


Fragments That Fit

by intothecest



Category: Locke & Key (TV)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Brother/Sister Incest, F/F, F/M, Lockecest, POV Multiple, Protectiveness, Self-Denial, Swimming Pools, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking, traumatic memories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:14:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24555265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intothecest/pseuds/intothecest
Summary: Kinsey's Fear is still out there, loose... and Gabe and Scot come to Tyler with an idea... take something from his head to help track it down. It may not have been the best idea.  Sometimes pieces fit together in ways we don't expect.
Relationships: Eden Hawkins & Jackie Veda, Eden Hawkins/Jackie Veda, Kinsey Locke & Tyler Locke, Kinsey Locke/Tyler Locke
Comments: 33
Kudos: 30





	1. Tyler - Mirrors in the Mind

Tyler Locke winced when he opened the door and saw Scot on the other side. Fresh bruises lined the boy's face, and there was a cast on one of his arms. Gabe, standing beside him, seemed comparatively untouched, which seemed a shame. Both of them were there in the woods, with Kinsey, when it happened, but only Scot got hurt. Not that he wanted _either_ of them hurt, but, to Tyler, it seemed like, if Scot had to be the one to break a bone then the fair thing would be if Gabe's punchable face got messed up, rather than ice cream boy suffering both. Particularly since he lost out on dating Kinsey. "Jesus, I... I'm sorry," he said.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Scot said. Tyler wasn't sure he agreed... at the very least, it was the Locke family's fault, like most of the other negative things that had struck the town recently. This particular one was more his sister's fault than his, since it was her rampaging Fear that broke Scot's arm, but still... there was an underlying guilt that gnawed at him, like if he'd done something better, this wouldn't have happened. 

And even if it was Kinsey's fault, he had to do what he could to shield her from the consequences, even if the consequences were the reactions of her friends. "It's not her fault either," he said defensively. "She feels guilty enough about it."

Scot raised his hands in mock surrender, though only the one without a cast could do so with an open palm. "Nobody's blaming her. It was _our_ idea to chase after it." Of course it was. As head horror geek of the Savini Squad, he probably jumped at the chance to go after an actual monster... he probably wanted to put it in one of his stupid movies or something.

Still, if they weren't coming to tell her off, he could relax. "Well, she's not here. Eden's house sitting at Javi's and invited her and Jackie over to use the pool." He was invited, but made up an excuse.

"We know. Actually," Gabe said, "we came to talk to you."

Tyler tilted his head in mild surprise. The two were among those that he and Kinsey had told about the Keys, and had helped when they needed to throw Dodge through the Black Door, but they were still _her_ friends far more than his. And Tyler really didn't like hanging out with people who were only in his orbit because they wanted to bang his sister... maybe Scot had moved past that, but Gabe hadn't, and it was hard to shake the first impression of either. None of that was a good reason to turn them away, though, so he backed away from the open door open, implicitly inviting them inside.

They followed him to the Great Room, where he sat on the couch. The other two sat on the two seats across from the table, looking at each other, trying to decide who was going to go first. "We think we need to go after it again," Scot said. 

Tyler drew his hands up to his face, tugging down. "Jesus, you've got a death wish," he said.

"We know where it is now," Gabe pointed out. "Or, at least, where it was two days ago. The longer we wait, the more chance it has to move somewhere else. And the more likely it is to _hurt_ somebody else. Maybe kill them. You think Kinsey feels guilty _now_?"

Tyler took a deep breath. "And you want me to go with you." 

"Yes and no," Scot said.

Chasing after a monster in the woods wasn't something he wanted to do, but he was prepared to, but Scot's answer confused him, so he raised an eyebrow, until Gabe piped up with, "Scot and I got to talking, and... we had this idea." He waited.

Scot picked up the thread of the conversation. "Okay, so, Kinsey stabbed her Fear before. And she buried it underground. It survived both. I don't think it's possible to kill it. I mean, it's not a person, it's just a fragment of Kinsey's personality. An... abstraction, a reflection of her. It doesn't have to obey laws of biology because it doesn't really fit in the world at all. It's like Pyramid Head from the _Silent Hill_ games. You can't actually kill your fear, even if you pull it out of your head. You have to resolve it."

It made sense, as much as anything did. "We may not be able to kill it," Tyler pointed out, "But _it_ can kill us."

"Exactly," Gabe agreed. "Any of us who go after it is taking a risk. Unless we found a way to... level the playing field."

Leaning forward, Scot seemed almost excited. "So we thought we'd take a beat from the classic _kaiju_ movies. Sometimes, the best thing to to do is... let a unnatural creature fight one of its own."

It was easy enough to piece through the awkward metaphors. "You guys are crazy. You want to bring _another_ one of those things out of someone's head? Let it run loose in the world and hope it runs into Kinsey's fear?"

The two exchanged a look. "When you put it that way it doesn't sound like the smartest idea," Scot agreed, deflating.

"It's insane! We'd just have _two_ monsters out there!"

Gabe wasn't willing to let it go so easily. "But..." He paused for a while, like he was choosing just the right words. "It doesn't _have_ to be a monster. I mean, Kinsey removed her Fear. So of course it's going to be irrational, and lash out, and _act_ like a monster when it's released out in the world. That doesn't mean anything else we remove from your head will automatically be the same."

" _My_ head?"

"Well, yeah," Scot said. "We'd just..."

Gabe put a hand up to interrupt him. "Just, look. I think we're all agreed that this is about Kinsey, right? We can't have that thing running around loose. I mean, I love how badass she is, but... I'm not sure it's good for her, and... you know, I care about her... worry about her. And I'm sure you do too." Tyler didn't answer, didn't feel he needed to. Of _course_ he worried. He worried about Kinsey before he was aware of Gabe's existence, a generally happier time all around. "We need to catch that thing and... I don't know, put it back in her head."

"I'm not sure Kinsey wants that." He had the same concerns, but in the end... "It has to be her decision. Why isn't she here? She should be involved in this."

Smoothly pivoting, Gabe said, "Of course, we'd never do something like that without her okay, but the first step is catching it, and I think it might be better to do _that_ part ourselves. If we tell her, I don't think she'll be too hot on our plan, and besides, she'll insist on joining the hunt... and last time, her recklessness got Scot hurt." Tyler wasn't there at the time, and he'd never heard the whole story... he could believe it, and yet he had the urge to defend her all the same. Besides, judging by this plan, she wasn't the only reckless one. But before he could object, Gabe continued, "So _we_ capture it, and then... we all we have to do is try to talk her into letting it back into her head, or, if she doesn't want to, she can help us keep it contained somewhere it can't hurt anybody. It'll still be her choice, but we take the danger out of it. And I really think she's coming around, that if we make it _easy_ for her, she'll choose to take her Fear back and fight it inside, like the rest of us. I have faith in her." He looked at Tyler, an implied _Don't you?_ remaining unsaid.

He did have faith in her, not that she'd always make the right decision, but that she'd do what she thought was right. Gabe was right about one thing, they couldn't leave it out there wandering, and he didn't hate that this plan kept her out of any dangers involved in hunting a monster in the woods. Even if he had to sacrifice something for it. "And you think something from my head will help with that."

"It's just..." Scot started, and then corrected himself, "And don't take this the wrong way, it's a good thing. Scary, but good. But you are a little... overprotective?"

"We all heard how you beat a guy's face in for not leaving her alone," Gabe pointed out. That wasn't _just_ about Kinsey, but... it was a _lot_ about Kinsey and not wanting anyone who might want to use her to think that was okay.

"A guy who _totally deserved it_ ," Scot specified, as though fearing Tyler might turn his violence on him. "But the first few times I came visiting I was a little terrified that you'd be the one answering the door." _Good,_ the thought came unbidden. If only _Gabe_ was just as terrified.

"If we could somehow take your overprotectiveness outside of you, like Kinsey did her Fear," Gabe theorized, seeming completely unterrified by the possibility that he might be the first target. "It would be the perfect ally in taking the Fear-beast down. Your protectiveness will _always_ have Kinsey's best interest at heart, it'll probably know tons about her, and it _can't be killed._ "

Scot let loose a chuckle. "It's almost metaphorical combat. Of course Kinsey's Fear can be conquered by her big brother's protective instinct."

"This is crazy." Their whole life was crazy sometimes, but this seemed even more so. "I'm not taking _out_ my protectiveness for my sister."

"Just temporarily. Look, I'm sure you're worried you might not get it back... but of _course_ Kinsey's Fear runs at every opportunity. That's what Fear _does_. But even without her Fear, Kinsey still runs from danger, and even if we took out your protective instinct, you'd still love and protect her." He leaned in, nodding to himself as though these things were obvious and something they already agreed on. "You know that this plan would be good for Kinsey, that she'd be better off... whole. _And_ she'd be better off with you always looking out for her, so of course it's going to come back willingly when the job is done."

"This is crazy," Tyler repeated. "We don't even know if this idea would work."

"Why not at least give it a look?" Gabe suggested. "See if we can meet your Protectiveness, get it to agree. We don't have to take it out unless you're totally comfortable."

"Right," Scot agreed. "If not, no harm done, we'll find another way."

"It'll just take longer," Gabe agreed. "And we'll have to worry her Fear doesn't like, kill a cop or something in the meantime." Cops were supposed to be looking for Scot's mysterious attacker, although Kinsey said he'd given a description of a large biker-looking guy with crazy eyes and a bushy beard and they might not look too hard in the woods when they thought it was just a meth addict passing through town. 

Still, Kinsey's Fear killing someone was a real possibility, so, against his better judgement, Tyler retrieved the Head Key from Kinsey's box. That itself was unfair to her, an invasion of privacy, and made him feel a stab of guilt that she really _should_ be involved in this plan, but she was having fun swimming and he didn't want to bother her... or at least he told himself that. 

He made the trip upstairs alone, not trusting either of them to know where the box was kept, so made them wait in the Great Room while he got the key, then, once he returned, holding it for display, instantly felt a wave of his own fear at the thought of people roaming around in his own head. There was some messed up stuff in there, stuff he didn't want _anyone_ to see, much less someone who might report back to his sister.

"Ground rules," he said, after deciding suddenly backing out after getting the key would be weird. He could control his mind... he'd been doing it for years. "Only one of you goes inside. The other one should stand watch in case, you know, my Mom or Bode come home early or something. But you don't touch the key, just open the door and yell." 

"So I guess that's me then?" Scot guessed, based on Tyler's gaze when he gave the instruction. Tyler himself hadn't realized it, but it made sense. He wanted Gabe where he could keep an eye on him, and, if his protectiveness did decide to attack, maybe it would teach the smarmy kid a lesson.

Without verbally answering Scot's assumption, he turned his gaze on Gabe. "And you. You don't touch anything, or go anywhere, or even look at anything unless I say it's okay."

"I get it," Gabe said. "We're all guys here, I'm sure we all have stuff we'd rather nobody else sees rolling around in our heads. I won't go snooping."

Tyler sat down, took a deep breath, and inserted the key in the back of his head. Suddenly, he was standing by the door, even though another him was sitting on the couch. Scot flinched at the appearance of the door, of the second Tyler. "It always freaks me out when that happens." But he got over it quick, and looked at the door. "Yours isn't a mall?"

"It's different for different people."

"So what's this?" Gabe asked. 

"Our house in Seattle." At least, the outer door was. Inside, it got a little looser, a mishmash of every house they'd ever lived in, including, now, Keyhouse, with rooms connecting places that had never been together... the kind of home he often found himself wandering through in dreams--or, just as often, nightmares, where he was lost, hearing Kinsey or Bode or Mom or Dad calling for his help but being unable to find his way to them. That was another reason he hated going into his mind. That and the fact that most of the time the room it opened was where Dad died, everything covered in plastic. 

But at least the body wasn't on the floor anymore, just a stain he must not touch. Tyler grabbed the doorknob and stepped inside to the familiar painful scene. The plastic over everything was good, in its way, it kept the memories safe, kept Gabe from reaching out. Moving quickly to get through the worst of it, Tyler sidestepped into the kitchen to avoid the stain, looking back to make sure Gabe did likewise, and once in the kitchen, the geography shifted from what he actually remembered. An opening that shouldn't be there led to another house they lived in briefly, sold, and flipped. Along the way, he knew, paintings on the wall would, if inspected, lead to memories, and he could see hints of them, but here they were safe memories, childhood, one of him and Kinsey climbing trees here, another of wrestling with Bode there, some scenes with friends. Kinsey's mind was so organized, labelled departments, memories in bins, pretty colors... he wondered if it had something to do with her artistic talent, organizing what was in her head into a pretty package, but his head was a mess. _What else is new?_

"I don't know how you can expect to find anything in this," he said to Gabe. Wandering around touching things was definitely _not_ something he was willing to risk with Gabe in his head. Maybe this was enough, to show him the idea couldn't work. "I haven't used the Head Key much but I've never seen any... emotional fragments walking around in here."

"This is based on your house, right? What about your room?" Gabe suggested, and then, when Tyler didn't get moving right away, "Come on, we need to at least give this a try. I'm already walking around on the inside of your head, and I don't know about you, but that gives me the creeps... so I'd kind of like it to not have been for literally nothing." 

"Fine," he said, and circled around a corner where there was a staircase, straight from Keyhouse, and they walked upstairs into a hallway that looked like their house when he was fifteen... save for the fact that one of the doors had wooden planks covering the front of it, barring entrance. But that wasn't the door to _his_ room so he passed it by, trusting Gabe wouldn't know enough to guess and almost daring him to ask about it so he could say it was none of his business. 

He didn't ask, and Tyler never said anything, just opened the door to his room, and found a mess. But that was what he expected. In real life, he was like he imagined most people... sometimes his room was clean with everything in its place, and sometimes he just let it go to hell... but it just seemed fitting that the room in his head had clothes strewn everywhere, books, discarded wrappers of junk food. These last, he noticed, had familiar brand logos, except with the name replaced by something from his own life. A soft drink on the nightstand by his bed didn't come from _Burger King_ , it instead said _Summer Kins_ and he had no doubt that if he took a sip he'd be transported to some beach memory. A takeout bag from Duke's Seafood read Dad's Lectures, and so on. 

The wall posters again showed scenes from his life, with hockey posters showing actual games... although these last were defaced with marker, crossed out, representing the taint that hung over the sport he once loved ever since he was coming home from hockey practice just in time to distract Sam Lesser, holding the gun that killed his father seconds later. He still loved the game, but it could never be the same. "So what now?"

"This is all sort of metaphorical, right?" Gabe suggested as he looked around the room... not too closely at anything, but even the effort made him want to throw the guy out before he could stumble upon something he didn't want known... even the labels could potentially be too revealing, here. But then he pointed to the full-length mirror by his dresser. "How about this?" 

"A mirror?"

"It's not just a mirror," Gabe explained. "It's a mirror in your mind. Did you know, in a dream, if you look in the mirror, you never see yourself as you are? You see something that represents what you think of yourself. Real mirrors are just glass, but in here, everything's symbolic. And in front of a mirror is where you dress... you know, for school, or a date, or a job... it's literally where you decide what side of yourself to put on and show the world. So, maybe if you look into this mirror you can, like, summon those other sides?"

Tyler stood in front of the mirror, seeing only himself, first, although a part of him felt that who he saw in the mirror was uglier, weaker than his real self, and another part felt that this was exactly how he looked... that very confusion made him wonder if Gabe was onto something. _How would this work, then?_ he wondered, his eyes roaming around the room, spotting the drink on his nightstand before returning to the mirror. _Maybe it's as simple as concentrating on..._

The mirror flashed, then, and the image changed... becoming more attractive, except perhaps for the notable difference of two ivory horns protuding from his short hair. The reflected figure was also shirtless, wearing only swimming trunks... trunks which had a surprising bulge in the front. Tyler leaned forward. _Oh god_ , he thought...

...and the image leaned forward too, only it didn't stop at the mirror's surface. Instead, it's head pulled through the surface of the glass, if there was a surface, and extended into the room. "Hey. Help a guy out? You've got any porn on you? You must have like, a phone on you, right? Can I borrow it for a few minutes? I'm dying here." 

Face burning, Tyler shoved the horned face back through the mirror and closed his eyes, tried forcibly to clear his mind... when he opened them again, the image was of himself again. He turned back to Gabe, who had a disgusting smirk on his face. "I guess I was thinking about Jackie then... it must have been, like, my Lust."

"Yeah, I figured." The smirk faded, replaced by an eager earnestness. "But that's a good sign... it means we know it works. Obviously, all we have to do is get you to think hard about Kinsey, bring some of the feelings she inspires up."

Tyler's eye slid back to the mirror, unwilling to look at it too closely, or think too hard. "You know what, this is a bad idea."

Gabe slid up to his side, put his hand on Tyler's shoulder like they were friends, pointed him back to the mirror. "It'll work. Just try. Think about what you worry about with her, maybe that will draw it out. Remember, this is to help Kinsey. It should be easy."

Shaking the hand off his shoulders, he turned his neck to Gabe. "Why don't we do this in _your_ head, then? You feel protective over her too, don't you?" _You'd better._

"Of course, but..." he looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Look, you don't want to get into my head, there's some really messed up stuff in there." There was something about the way he said _really_ that made Tyler tense up.

He turned to face the younger boy head-on, locked gazes, Tyler doing his best look intimidating with the matter of inches between them. "Like what?" 

Gabe's hands went into his pockets, looked decidedly shifty. "Nothing. I mean everyone's got their dark sides, right?"

"Everyone's dark side isn't also _dating my sister_." Gabe gave an infuriating shrug. "What? Do you have any secrets, Gabe? Anything I should know?"

"Look, I just don't think it would be a good idea for you to see how I think about your sister." 

A hand reached out and grabbed Gabe by the throat. Tyler was surprised that it wasn't his own, but rather extended from the mirror. Attached to it was Tyler's twin... if Tyler had a twin who was six inches taller and studied bodybuilding. Tyler's Lust seemed to actually be shorter than him, but his slim build came with muscle definition Tyler envied... and this man looked a more daunting example of male muscular power that you could tell even despite the ragged hockey jersey covering his torso. Tyler's Protectiveness, if that was what this was, barely fit through the mirror, had to turn his body sideways to get through, and did so without letting Gabe go. "Speak carefully little man." Protectiveness spoke with a deep voice and an accent that faintly evoked Arnold Schwarzeneggar and went well with his oversized upper body. Tyler's Protectiveness was like Tyler The Hockey-Themed Barbarian. He even had a stick strapped to his back like a club. 

"See?" Gabe gasped out. "I knew I could draw your Protectiveness out."

"Drop him," Tyler said, and he wasn't sure if his Protectiveness would comply, or if he really wanted it to, but to his surprise it did, and Gabe slumped to the ground, taking in a long breath. 

"Sorry, I just said all that stuff to goad you." Tyler wasn't sure if he believed Gabe, but helped him to his feet anyway and watched as he brushed off his shirt. "We could try it with me, but... come on, you're her big brother. You're always going to win out on protectiveness. And look at this guy. This is spectacular, he's like... Hulk Hogan with a shave."

"I don't like this one," his Protectiveness said. "Kinsey can do better."

"Ouch," Gabe said. "You really don't hold anything back." He sat down on the bed, which violated Tyler's _touch-nothing_ rule but considering he'd just about gotten strangled to death, Tyler was willing to give a little bit of slack. "But you can talk, which is good. Do you know why we came here?"

Protectiveness glared at Gabe, but finally answered. "To protect Kinsey. To make her whole again."

"If she wants that," Tyler emphasized. "But we can't have her Fear on the loose... we need to at least capture it."

"I can conquer her Fear," Protectiveness promised. "That has always been one of my duties." He said it with such solemness that Tyler rethought the characterization of him as just a barbarian... there was that vibe, sure, but there was also something of a knight in him. Perhaps he was both. Perhaps both sides were needed, to do what needed to be done. 

Friend, Barbarian, Knight... they were all pieces of what went into being a protective big brother, and he still wasn't sure it was a good idea to let them out like Kinsey did. But if it was only for a short time... "And you'll come back again into my head afterwards? Willingly?"

His answer took too long for Tyler to be entirely comfortable, but he nodded slowly and said, "Yes. I vow it. That is how we protect her best." And surprisingly, Tyler believed it. There was a connection... at least, there was while it was in his head. 

"Great," Gabe said. "So we're good to go. If we're lucky, we might be able to get this done before Kinsey's done with her little pool party." 

His Protectiveness flared his nostrils and eyes widened, and Tyler could almost feel the thought echoing in him. _But what if she drowns?_ Yet still separate from him... that must have been how Kinsey identified her Fear when they first saw it, she felt an echo of its emotions, the fears inside her. _What if something attacks?_

Gabe continued, "You can do without your Protectiveness for a little while, right?"

"No," his Protectiveness announced. "I want to tame her Fear. But Kinsey is more important... and who will protect her?" 

"You're not protecting her now..." Gabe pointed out. "She's fine, she's with Eden and Jackie."

"Perhaps I should be as well. The world is dangerous. Even a pool is dangerous." _Maybe it really_ is _overprotectiveness._

"How about this?" Gabe suggested. "Remember what I said, I bet Tyler would still die for Kinsey even without you. So, you help us with the Fear--the bigger danger to her if it hurt somebody--and in the meantime, Tyler here will go hang out with Kinsey, make sure she's safe at all times until you get back." 

Protectiveness' mouth worked like he was chewing something particularly difficult. "That would be... okay. So long as he promises to stay with her."

"Okay fine." His protectiveness came close, looming over him as they locked eyes, like it was trying to intimidate him even though it came from inside him. "I said fine. I promise." After a few more seconds of strong eye contact, it nodded.

With a clap of his hands Gabe got off his bed. "Good. Let's get out of here then." 

Protectiveness led the way, and Gabe followed, and Tyler lingered a few seconds taking one last look around, noticing only as he was leaving the crumpled white envelope sticking out from beneath a pillow. Curious, Tyler moved back into the room, picking up the envelope and opening it, spotting a flash of skin, his own face, and another pale body... before it was yanked out of his hand. 

There was Tyler's Lust again, smooth-bodied and cocky, the horny perv holding the envelope in clutched hands. "I think that's mine," it said, and took a peek inside, grinning devilishly. If a mirror was symbolic of where he put on different sides of himself, the bed was definitely the place where his worst fantasies bubbled up.

Tyler sighed. Sometimes he wished he could take that piece of himself out, too, but that would be even more of a disaster unleashed on the world than his sister's Fear. He had to live with his worst impulses. "Fine, just... do me a favor and go to sleep for a while, okay?"

"No promises man, Little Ty gotta follow his bliss. Unless you want to help me sleep..." It grinned and gave an exaggerated wink, but then Protectiveness kicked the door fully open again, stomped the few feet into the room and punched Lust in the face. 

"No distractions," Protectiveness said, looking down with satisfaction on the seemingly unconscious Lust, still clutching his envelope of fantasies. "Protect Kinsey."

"Right." Jackie often said he needed to get out of his own head, and now, more than ever, she was right.


	2. Jackie - Spirit Sisters

Despite being best friends for years, sometimes Jackie couldn't figure out what was going on in Eden's head. That feeling was becoming increasingly frequent in recent weeks. Since school let out for the summer, she only spent time with her a couple times a week and never solo.

Some of that was understandable. Despite their closeness, the two had always had vastly different interests, enough that people were often surprised they were even friends, much less best friends, the kind of friends who wrote things like to "my sister-in-spirit" in each other's yearbooks long after their middle school cheer days were behind them. Very different people could still form strong bonds... it's just that sometimes their differences pulled them in different directions for a while. It had happened during the school year, too. Eden was much more of an extrovert, loved having wild and fun adventures, and sometimes she got wrapped up with a new guy who temporarily excited her before she got bored of him. Likewise, Jackie sometimes had all her free time sucked away in studying or her volunteer efforts, building up her profile for her college applications (and genuinely doing good in the process). Even then, though, they'd video chat or at least text each other regularly and eventually feel the lack of each other's presence so much that they would be drawn into each other's orbit no matter what obstacles there were and do something fun, just the two of them, even if it meant Jackie lying to her parents (who didn't really approve of Eden, for a variety of reasons). 

This summer was the worst it had been anytime in her recent memory though. In the wake of their 'throw the demon back through the mystical doorway' adventure, Eden made up with Scot and began working on another movie with his Savini Squad, including Kinsey. For her part, Jackie still had some charity work even in summer, and her relationship with Tyler certainly ate up a lot of her free time. Still, summer was _full_ of free time, and it felt like it should have been easy to find best-friend-time. When she first heard about Eden's housesitting gig she was excited, because it seemed to make it the perfect getaway away from prying eyes and just chill... but it hadn't worked out that way. Lately it seemed almost like Eden had forgotten how to text, rarely reaching out to touch base, and often ignoring Jackie's own hints at being bored and needing a break from her parents. 

Most galling, Eden seemed more eager to hang out with Kinsey, who she saw regularly at Scot's, than with her supposed best friend. Even today, the long-awaited invitation to take advantage of Javi's pool--while he and his family were enjoying some island getaway--had finally come... but she was an afterthought, almost. The idea was brought up when they were leaving Scot's place, after paying a visit to sign his new cast, and Kinsey was obviously feeling guilty over her part in whatever it was that happened. To Jackie's surprise, Eden noticed Kinsey moping, invited her swimming to unwind. It was only after Jackie caught her eye, and Eden saw whatever look of surprise or suspicion had formed on her face, that she added, "You come too," as though it were only natural, but she hadn't considered it before. "Invite Tyler, if you want. Especially if you can get him to wear a speedo."

As it turned out, Tyler wasn't interested, and Jackie hoped Kinsey would back out too, to give the two of them a chance to talk, face-to-face, girl-to-girl, sister-to-sister. Or even if Kinsey might show up late or leave early. Sadly, Kinsey was already there when she arrived. "Just got here myself," she said, and at least she looked a little uncertain of her place there, like she was conscious of being an interloper, but she was already in her swimsuit as though she belonged. The suit flattered her slim form as well, it was two-pieces, orange trim and tassels over a white wavy design. Then Eden came out, and for one heart-stopping moment, the sun in her gaze, Jackie thought she was naked, though the moment her eyes focused she realized it was just her peach-colored swimsuit. Even in that, Eden looked fantastic, of course, but then she always did, no matter what she wore, her body seemed to be made to show off, her generous curves inspiring a pang of longing... envy, she knew it had to be, mostly.

Envy came up again when Eden spotted Jackie. Though her face shone, with her winning smile, when she said, "Hey, Jackie! Glad you could make it," there was something missing from her eyes, which made Jackie felt distinctly like a third wheel. 

Again, because of Kinsey. 

Jackie _liked_ the girl, really, had always done her best to make her feel welcome... but it was _frustrating_ to be around her sometimes. Whenever she and Tyler in the room they were a team and Jackie, she was just Tyler's girlfriend, a hanger-on. She understood that, family came first, and she had a long way to go before she could hold a candle to all the history they built up... but then to feel that same sensation with her best friend, the girl she practically considered _her_ sister, was like a moving needle in the gut.

At least there was small comfort in her certainty that Eden probably didn't actually _like_ Kinsey. Maybe on some superficial level, but there was something else going on, and Jackie wasn't sure of all the details, but had a feeling it was probably the reason she wasn't entirely welcome... Eden was doing something she was ashamed of. 

Her best friend had a lot of different facets to her personality, and although Jackie loved Eden--as a friend--she loved her knowing her flaws, too, knowing that sometimes she had to pull her friend back from her worst impulses. Eden did the same for her, although many of Jackie's worst impulses were too often praised by everyone else--studying too hard, not taking risks, being too much of a people pleaser, being the "good girl." Sure, she had moments where she needed Eden to call her out on being a total ass to people around her, but mostly she depended on her friend to remind her there were people who would care for her even if she wasn't perfect, that more to life existed than just fulfilling her parents dreams for her, that she had her own passions. Even if some of them she could only enjoy vicariously. That was what people didn't understand, what always made their friendship work so well despite their different personalities... to outsiders, they both seemed like they had life figured out, but like everyone, they had their jagged edges... but the way their broken pieces fit together somehow complemented each other, made both of them better. Usually, anyway. Sometimes they brought out the _worst_ in each other too. 

Whether this would be one of those times where she had to hold Eden back or if it would be one of those times her best friend would pull her into something she should regret but probably wouldn't, Jackie wasn't quite sure yet. That was part of the fun of being with Eden... but the fun came with a feeling, like butterflies in her stomach. This time around, those butterflies were especially unpleasant, like she wasn't going to like wherever this led, but she pushed through, hid her disappointment at Kinsey's presence, and put on a smile instead. Go with the flow. 

Javi's place had a small poolhouse beside the water, and Jackie ducked in there to change into her swimsuit. Hers was a one-piece, lilac number that she'd bought because Eden had said made her look sexy when they were trying it on. She'd never been confident enough to wear it in front of Tyler, but since he wasn't coming, she brought it along. She made the change in as much silence as she could muster, hoping to overhear whatever conversation the other two girls might be having, but there was nothing but sounds of splashing. When she stepped out, Eden wasn't in sight, just Kinsey, who's head had just emerging from the water and gave her a once-over, then said, "Hey, I like your suit."

"Thanks. Yours too. Where's...?" 

"Damn, Jackie..." Eden called out, from just inside the main house. She'd moved the sliding door open with her butt, her hands full of nested plastic cups in one hand and a thick glass bottle full of clear liquid in the other. "Looking good." Even if it was the same kind of automatic compliment, it still filled her with warmth to hear it, and she sat down at the edge of the pool, watching Eden saunter over with drinks. "So, what do you say we get this party started, huh?"

"I, uh... don't really drink," Kinsey said. 

"You don't drink," Eden repeated as though she'd said something incomprehensible.

"I mean I've gotten drunk before, it's just... there's some alcoholism that runs in my family, so I've always just... kind of steered myself away from it." She shrugged, just looking at the tiles on the side of the pool she was clinging to, like she couldn't meeting their eyes, embarrassed by the revelation.

"Nothing wrong with that," Jackie said. "I always limit myself to just a few." Getting a little buzzed, that was fun, but too drunk... things happened, things that threatened her friendships, pushed them in ways they probably could not survive. Even if she _wanted_ to try, the risk was too great. Some things were more important than fun. She looked at Eden's casual smile, no sign she even thought about that night as often as she did. Eden drank a lot, and didn't have anywhere near the kind of limits she set for herself. It didn't mean anything. 

" _Tyler_ doesn't worry about it, though," Eden said, instead, as she sat down, cross-legged. "Does he, Jackie?" 

Was she supposed to sanitize Tyler's more unpleasant qualities with her sister? Jackie was never quite sure, part of the reason she felt uncomfortable around her. Before she could answer, Kinsey laughed. "Are you trying to use my brother to peer pressure me?" 

"Nobody's trying to pressure you," Jackie said, shooting a warning glare to Eden, who was pouring into all three glasses. 

"Right," she agreed. "I'm just surprised. I mean, you took your Fear _out_ , right? I never got that... I mean, like, what's stopping you from just... you know, following all your impulses? I mean if _I_ had no Fear you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I'd do." _Like what?_ Jackie wondered. Eden always seemed so brave, was there something she was too afraid to even admit she secretly wanted? Even to her best friend? 

"It's not like that," Kinsey explained, pulling herself out of the water and coming to sit on the edge. "You can know something's a bad idea, even if you want it, you know? Not being afraid doesn't change that." Kinsey's lack of Fear was one of a number of things Jackie envied, but her answer was something of a relief. Maybe a lack of fear wouldn't have changed anything, for either of them. Bad ideas would still be bad ideas. "It just makes it easier to jump into a bad idea without thinking, if you're not careful. In a way it's a little like being drunk."

Eden wiggled one glass, extended in Kinsey's direction. "So what's a little more?" Then, anticipating the reaction, said, "Come on, it's just us girls here, and... the whole point of this was to cheer you up after what happened with Scot. Your Fear broke his arm. I just thought you'd want a little break from the guilt, you know?" 

Her voice was cheerful, almost flippant, but it was hard to look past the cruelty in rubbing Kinsey's face in what happened. Eden sometimes used words as weapons--sometimes subtly like this, sometimes blatantly--lashing out with precision, targeting the hidden insecurities of people who harmed her or her friends. Jackie didn't think protectiveness over Scot was the reason, and regardless, it seemed out of line. "Look, Eden, if she doesn't want to..."

Taking the cup suddenly, Kinsey said, "No, it's fine." She took a sip... just a small one, and her face wrinkled up at the strength, more intense than she was expecting. "A little probably would help."

Eden smiled triumphantly. "See, there you go." Another cup was poured full, and this was passed to Jackie. "Hey, let's make it fun. We still don't know much about each other. So let's play a game of Truth or Dare..."

Again, Kinsey laughed. "Truth or dare? What are we, twelve?" Jackie and Eden had played it more recently than _that_ , but not for a while. 

"...or _drink_ ," Eden finished. "Truth or Dare or Drink. If you don't want to answer the question or do the dare, you just take a sip. Keeps it light and fun, you never have to feel pressured." 

Jackie wasn't so sure, it was just a different kind of pressure, maybe even a more dangerous game. "As long as you can quit any time."

"Of course." Eden's gaze drifted skyward, and she added, "On second thought, maybe skip the dares." That took off some of the pressure... some of the excitement, too. Jackie used to live for doing dares with Eden, before things went a bit too far that last time. "For now. Maybe when we've had enough that you don't get an unfair advantage, you know?" She took a sip of her drink. Judging by her past it would take a few drinks before they were in any kind of danger zone. "You start, Jackie."

"Oh..." _Way to put me on the spot._ "Okay, um... you're a vegetarian, right, Kinsey?" Sometimes when she and Tyler went out to eat at a place with a good vegetarian option he picked something up for his sister. It was sweet, even if it was another reminder of how much closer they were than she and Tyler would ever be. "How'd that start?"

"Boring," Eden declared of her question, and Jackie shot her friend a glare.

Kinsey seemed to agree with the assessment. "I mean there's no big story behind it or anything. I saw a video of how they treated animals on some of those farms, and, I don't know, I just couldn't. And, you know, it's better for the environment and everything."

"I've thought about doing that," Jackie said. "It's just a big commitment." And her parents would make a big deal out of it. They were proud of her organizing charity races or anything that looked good on a college application, but once her activism inconvenienced them, even just in terms of their dinner plans, they were far less progressive than they pretended. "Right now I'm just trying to cut back."

"Not me," Eden said. "I love the meat. I'll happily take both your shares." 

"So, that means it's my turn, right?" Kinsey asked. "That's how we used to play it anyway, if you get asked you get to ask next?" It wasn't always the way Matheson kids played, but it was a common ruleset, so both of them nodded and Kinsey thought, looking between the two of them, then her eyes gazing over Javi's house, and must have been inspired. "So how exactly did you get this housesitting gig, anyway? I mean it seems pretty weird to leave the house in the hands of a teenager." She eyed the bottle then, and Jackie guessed that she was thinking something along the lines of _especially one you couldn't trust not to raid the bar._

Her usual urge to defend Eden rose up, even if what Jackie said wasn't actually a defense as much as an explanation. "They've known Eden since she was a kid."

"Yeah, plus Javi's dad is a big pervert." Jackie's head whipped back in Eden's direction, eyes wide with shock. Her lips curled up in a smirk. "Relax, Jackie, I didn't actually _do_ anything... much. But I did promise him I'd send pictures and video regularly to prove the house is safe and I'm not throwing a rager or anything. And I pointed out I'd probably be mostly in my swimsuit. If he wants to get off to underage bikini shots, what do I care? Never underestimate what you can get by showing a guy a little skin when he's already hot for you." Shaking her head, Jackie sighed loudly enough for her disapproval to not go unnoticed, and Eden continued, "Hey, I needed this. You have no idea how much I needed a break from my parents." That, at least, she could relate to. "My turn! So you've got all these magical keys at your place, right?" Kinsey nodded warily. "What's the _naughtiest_ thing you've ever used one of them for?" Kinsey thought about it, looking into her cup, and then raised it as though to take a drink to avoid the question. "Okay, wait... not counting stuff you've done to either of us." Eden was sure her little freakout that went viral had something to do with Kinsey, but the Lockes had always been a little cagey on what some of the keys did. "And not taking your Fear out, either. Surely you can think of something."

Kinsey thought about it. "Okay. One time I did use one of the keys to spy on someone without them knowing. Just out of curiosity."

Since she wasn't going to drink this time, that meant Kinsey _had_ done something involving one of them. Probably confirming Eden's theory in a roundabout way. The thought didn't bother Eden, who looked less concerned about wrongs against her and more like she was sharing exciting gossip. "Who?"

"That would be another question," Kinsey pointed out. "But I'll tell you right now, I'd be drinking on that one." Realizing it was her own turn, she looked between Eden and Jackie a few times, before finally settling on Jackie. "Ever cheat on a boyfriend?"

"No!" The question offended her, but only until she reminded herself that Kinsey was her boyfriend's sister. Of _course_ she'd be protective of him, want to make sure Jackie wasn't going to screw him over. "No," she said again, a little more calmly, trying to get her earnestness across. "I really like your brother, Kinsey. I wouldn't do that." Kinsey's eyes flicked away, and for a second she thought it was disappointment in the answer, but then realized it was probably just shame of a question that could be read as a veiled accusation. The silence stretched on more than was comfortable, until she realized it was her turn to ask again. The idea of asking something about Gabe danced through her head... normally it would seem only fair, but she was scared of opening a can of worms with the wrong question, particularly after Kinsey's. If something happened, who knew how she might react... without Fear, maybe there was nothing that would stop her from throwing down. _Her Fear already attacked Eden once,_ she remembered, and that inspired another question, something she'd been curious about for a while. "So your Fear-monster..." she said. "Do you regret taking it out? I mean, if you could, would you put it back in your head?"

Waiting for the answer, Jackie glanced at Eden, who also seemed keenly interested. "I don't know," Kinsey said finally. 

Eden pointed, triumphantly. "A-ha, drink!"

"I'm not refusing to answer. It's just... I honestly don't know. I don't regret taking it out. I regret some of the stuff that happened because of that, but some good stuff happened too. It saved me and my brother, once." Tyler hadn't mentioned that, but then he kept a lot bottled up, no matter how much she tried to get him to open up to her. He probably opened up to Kinsey all the time, though she wondered if they'd ever talked about this. "And I don't want to go back to how I was before. But at the same time, my Fear's my responsibility... it's unfair to leave it out in the world. And maybe if I took it back it wouldn't be as bad as it was, you know? A lot's changed since I took it out." She shrugged. "I don't think I can answer if I'd put it back until that's a possibility." She looked down into her cup, still mostly untouched except that first sip. "So what do you say, do I have to drink?"

She'd bared her soul, which was the whole point, and really answered two questions, so she was inclined to say no, but Eden answered instead, "Mmm... half-sip."

Kinsey seemed fine with that compromise, then looked back up after her drink. This time she didn't wince. "I just realized this is kind of unfair. Two against one. You know each other so well, so on your turns you're always going to ask me."

"Fair point," Eden said. "Take your turn. I promise I'll ask Jackie something next."

"Okay." It took her some time to think of something. "When I came into the picture it seemed like you were really mean to Scot suddenly. I've always wondered... are you, like, _into_ him?"

_Poor girl,_ Jackie thought. _You couldn't be more wrong._ But she didn't say anything. It wasn't her place. Eden, though, took a big drink from her cup, then said, "Oh, I don't mind answering that, I just wanted a drink. I'm not _into_ him, no. Between Scot and me, it's always been strictly sexual." Off Kinsey's widened eyes, she laughed. "Kidding. No, seriously. I mean, his accent was cute at first, and you know, never say never, but he's really not my type. I just resented being replaced as a star. So maybe I was a bit of a bitch to him." She shrugged. "Water under the bridge." Now her gaze came back to Jackie. "Now what can I ask about my girl Jackie here that I don't already know?" Her eyes were penetrating, like they were invading Jackie's soul, and it was true, they didn't have many secrets, but a few specific questions could change everything, if she chose to ask, if Jackie could answer. "It might be easier if we just did dares like we used to." Her heart began to thump for a few seconds before Eden's sly smile turned into a grin. "Oh, I know. Hey Jackie... what's Tyler's dick like?" 

"Eden!" she gasped, surprised at her audacity. 

"I mean, I got an _idea_ of his size before he chickened out, and that seemed promising, but there's only so much you can tell from it being pressed up against your thigh, you know? You guys have been going out for a while, so you must be pretty acquainted with it by now, right?"

In true Eden fashion, it was several questions in one. Though she'd told Eden of some of what they'd done, just part of keeping her friend informed, she still kept most of the details to herself, and Eden probably assumed more than was actually true. In truth, part of the reason she gave Tyler a chance was _because_ he backed out when sex with Eden was a sure thing, that he lied to his friends about having sex with her... it gave Jackie confidence that maybe he'd take things slow with her. _Not that I'm not attracted to him,_ she reminded herself. Like most people she had a sex drive, but... there were certain steps you couldn't untake. In their dating time, they'd made some progress down that road, carved out some alone time in private locations for some fun her parents definitely wouldn't have approved of (though at the same time, would be more comfortable finding out than _other_ stuff about her), but there was no reason to rush things. Still, she wasn't comfortable talking about certain details... especially now. "Really, Eden? With his sister _right_ here?" She felt her face warming, and a glance towards Kinsey confirmed she was blushing too... the look of interest in her eyes must have been just in seeing how Jackie would react to the question.

Eden seemed to have no shame. "So what, living in the same house, she's probably seen it tons of times, just, like accidentally. I haven't, and I didn't get to take it on a test ride, so I need to consult the expert. He seems like he's got some stamina to him. Does he have stamina, Jackie?"

Now her face was on fire, so much that even Kinsey seemed more amused than embarrassed, and she couldn't find any words. Luckily, she didn't have to, and her drink in her hands, she took what was probably a larger gulp than the rules required.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Eden said, to Kinsey. "If she was just drinking to spare his reputation she wouldn't have been embarrassed. But then I'm sure he's brought tons of girls home before you moved here, right? You've probably heard through the walls." She took another sip and then shifted position to reach for the bottle of sunscreen. "That's not an official question, so you don't have to answer. And besides, it's your turn to ask." As though anticipating Jackie's objection, she said, "You refuse to answer, you lose your turn." While it was never stated in the rules before, she didn't fight it... as flustered as she was, Jackie wasn't sure she could think of a question right then anyway, and instead watched Eden as she squirted some cream on her hand and ran it along her long, soft-looking legs, taking a moment to adjust her swimsuit's bottom, before going back for more to do her belly, wondering if she'd ask Jackie to do her back. Their eyes met and Eden's lips curled into a half-smile, then puckered slightly, before she looked away. 

"Um, okay, I've got one," Kinsey said finally, looking somehow more embarrassed about what she was about to ask than about Jackie potentially answering a question about her brother's dick. "Have you two ever... you know... been more than friends?"

Jackie went very still, trying not to let her face give anything away, yet at the same time convinced that everyone could hear her heart pounding at the unexpected dangerous question. 

Eden, on the other hand, if she was bothered by the question, she hid it perfectly. _But then she's the actress, _Jackie thought. She blew some air out of her mouth and said, "Of course not. Some haters have tried to start these rumors every once in a while, but there's never been anything to them. I mean I think we kissed once as part of another dare game, but that's about it. Jackie and I may be like sisters, but _not_ like the Wheeler sisters."__

__"Wait what?" Kinsey asked._ _

__"Oh, you've never heard about them? They run the distillery. And they're, like, together."_ _

__Kinsey leaned in, looking from side to side and lowered her voice as though expecting somebody to overhear. "Really? Like openly?"_ _

__"Pretty much."_ _

__Jackie's mind had been racing over why Eden had lied, in a sacred game of _Truth or Drink_ no less, that she hadn't been paying full attention. Now that she was, she snapped, "No, not _really_. I mean, it's like a rumor. They hang a big rainbow flag every Pride, but just because they spend all their time together and nobody's ever seen them _with_ anybody... you know, people make up things. I don't think it's true." She didn't even think her _parents_ thought it was true, though it gave them an excuse to talk about their immoral lifestyle without looking like they had a _problem_ with gay people, because of course, they _love_ the LGBT community... they just think it's _a difficult lifestyle_ , and that sometimes _they're too in-your-face about their relationships_. But to go the extra step and imagine that the Wheeler sisters were committing incest? That was just silly. So what if they two never openly dated anybody? Or that they were often touching in public... some families were physically affectionate like that. But nobody would want to do something like that with their sibling. Even living with that much alcohol around. _ _

__She could understand some of the appeal of the idea though, why people might _imagine_ that. Even Jackie, though she wouldn't admit it out loud, had always wanted a relationship with someone who had that sibling vibe. Teasing, bickering, but underneath all that an enduring love and knowing you've always got each other's back and would take care of each other when you need it most. That was mostly why she was so envious of Tyler's relationship with Kinsey. She wished she had that rapport with him. Some of her favorite books had close, complex sibling relationships, and even some of the hottest romantic affairs in Austen's work had that sibling energy despite the lack of a blood tie. _ _

__"I can see it," Eden said, of the Wheeler sisters. "There's just a vibe you get, sometimes, when you look at people. And hey, they say forbidden fruit's the best kind."_ _

__Jackie looked away from Eden, towards Kinsey, who was pushing herself to her feet. "I need to pee. Where's the...?"_ _

__Eden gave her a quick set of directions, and watched as Kinsey wandered in through the glass door, watched Eden as she poured some more into her cup. "Thanks," she said finally. "I know you were just looking out for me. I mean, I'm not sure you _had_ to leave that stuff out, it was a long time ago, before Tyler and I even met." That made sense, her friend was covering for her, unsure if she wanted Jackie's boyfriend's sister to know they had an... intense evening. Some people might be freaked out by that. Of course it wasn't like Jackie was actually _bi_ or anything, it was just one night. Curious experimentation. A drunken mistake, they both agreed._ _

__Eden looked up, tilted her head, brow furrowed in confusion. "What did I leave out?"_ _

__Jackie was dumbfounded. "That night? You and I...?" Eden looked blank, and the realization hit like a knife through her heart. _She forgot?_ Eden wasn't trying to protect her, she just _forgot_. _ _

__"Ohh..." Eden said, finally, lay back, stretched, checked her phone, and idly tapped out a reply to whoever was on the other side. "Honestly, it didn't ever occur to me. I mean like you said it was a long time ago. Why dwell on it?"_ _

__"I'm not _dwelling_ on it." Sure, she'd thought about that night a lot, sometimes even when she was with Tyler a memory of it would crop up and she'd feel guilty. But it was just a random thought. She and Eden were spirit sisters for life, but not going down _that_ path._ _

__Except she'd have hoped her sister-in-spirit, her other half, would _remember_ the night they got closer than ever to becoming more, even crossed the line except for the agreement that it was a mistake. And that irritated her... it felt almost like a betrayal, but of course it wasn't. Still, even if Eden wasn't giving her what she needed, Jackie wondered if maybe it was time to give Eden what _she_ needed. She'd let it slide, played along, telling herself it was none of her business, but sometimes you had to tell a friend they were wrong. And with Kinsey in the bathroom, this was her best chance to do that. "What are you even doing here, Eden? Why did you invite Kinsey to this?" she snapped._ _

__"What do you mean?" she asked. "Can't I be friendly? We're co-stars on Scot's new movie."_ _

__Co-stars. Except Eden only liked it when she got most of the limelight. And... "It's more than that," she said. "Come on, Eden... you can hide it from other people, but not me," she waited for an admission, but there was just the same, innocent expression on her face. "I _know_ you're seeing Gabe behind Kinsey's back!" She'd seen them together, on multiple occasions... once or twice, might have been coincidence, but it was something beyond that... particularly the time she showed up to Javi's house for a surprise visit and saw them in the pool. It hurt that Eden didn't even tell her it was going on. Eden's phone chimed with a reply, and she asked, "You're talking to him right now, aren't you?" Eden shrugged with careless indifference that could only mean _yes, but so what?_ "It's pretty twisted to be playing nice with Kinsey when you're doing her boyfriend behind her back."_ _

__"Who says it's behind her back? Kinsey was dating two guys for a while, can't Gabe play the field a little too?"_ _

__She'd never understood how Scot or Gabe could go along with that... but then she couldn't understand why Eden and Gabe were together, either. He wasn't anywhere near her type. The only thing that made sense was if she did it just as a _fuck you_ to Kinsey while they were pretending to be friends. But it was another thing entirely if she was open about it... "So you don't mind if I bring it up then? Maybe I can ask it as my next question?"_ _

__Now Eden's face darkened. "Be careful, Jackie. Because if we're going to start telling people things that aren't their business, I could tell your parents a few things they'd find quite shocking." Jackie stared... what was truly shocking was the threat itself. They'd had their share of fights before, but no matter how bad things had gotten, certain things were sacred, some things you don't suggest even if you have no intention on following through. And worse, there was a part of her that genuinely worried it wasn't a bluff. She really _had_ changed in the last few months, enough that Jackie sometimes wondered if maybe they weren't spiritual sisters like she always thought. "Gabe and I are just having some fun. It's nothing serious. And if you have a problem with how I'm playing with Kinsey... well, you don't have to watch. I didn't really want you here anyway." It was said offhandedly, but if it was calculated to wound, Eden couldn't have chosen a better thing to say._ _

__Jackie stood, then, legs unsteady, shaking, though she didn't know if it was fury or hurt or some combination. "Fine," she said, and ducked into the pool house, pulled her shorts and shirt over her swimsuit, and stomped out, just as Kinsey was returning._ _

__"What's wrong?"_ _

__Telling her would be so easy. Eden would deserve it. But in the end, she couldn't... and not just because of Eden's threat. Deep down she had to believe that was a bluff. No matter how much she'd changed, she wouldn't _do_ that. "Nothing," she said, forcing her face neutral. Telling Kinsey would be a betrayal, though, as much as she deserved to know. And even if Eden hadn't said what she did, Jackie couldn't sit back and watch. She just had to remove herself from the situation. Whatever was going on between them was between them. "I just realized I had a volunteer thing I'd forgotten." It was always a convenient excuse when she needed one... even her parents didn't keep track of the specifics of what she was involved in, just praised her for being socially conscious in a way that looked good to colleges. "Sorry. I'll talk to you guys later."_ _

__Both said goodbye, Eden with a cheerful wave, like they were best friends parting, and maybe they still were, but enough pain had been inflicted on her today that the gesture just made her feel worse, like she was being mocked. The worst part was she couldn't even talk to anyone about it. Eden was who she'd usually vent with, and her second choice, Tyler, was out of the question because Kinsey was involved--not that she ever really talked much to Tyler about Eden. The next best thing was to go home, lock herself up alone in her room and hope things worked themselves out. _Friends fight,_ she told herself as she walked away from the house, more on hope than anything else. Even best friends. It didn't mean their friendship was over. Spirit sisters for life, that wasn't something you gave up on because of a spat, or one careless cruelty. Maybe in a movie, it might, but in the real world things were more complicated, messy. If getting involved with the Lockes taught her anything, it's that everyone had pieces of their personality that could be dangerous if unleashed on the world. It didn't mean you gave up on the whole person._ _


	3. Scot - Heart of the Hunt

Scot Cavendish wandered through the woods, hunting down an actual monster. It was almost like he was living in a movie. Six months ago, this might have been the highlight of his life... of course, six months ago, he would have had a camera in his hand, footage of a real monster lending some authenticity to one of his own film ideas, even if at a safe distance. Today, he couldn't even hold his camera even if he wanted to bring it--not with both hands, anyway, and the one he could use was holding a taser. His concept of _safe distance_ had also been revised dramatically. 

Still, he wasn't _that_ scared. The monster was Kinsey's Fear, pulled out of her head, and, leaving aside the famous Churchill quote, it was hard to be afraid of Fear, especially Kinsey's. The girl he sometimes nicknamed Rocky Road may have had a lot of scary things thrown at her, but despite all that she didn't really mean anyone any harm, and it was hard to imagine her Fear being any different. It could certainly hurt someone--it _had_ hurt him--but not out of malice or evil but just because it felt threatened and he'd gotten too close. 

Fundamentally, he was more afraid of this jacked-up goliath twin of Kinsey's brother that they'd pulled out of Tyler's head. Tyler's Protectiveness, Gabe wanted to called him, but that just wouldn't do. Instead, Scot nicknamed him Proto for short, which was coincidentally the title of a script he once wrote, about a monster that was the protohuman creature that mankind evolved from, brutal and savage and strong. That description, never realized on film, reminded Scot a lot of this reflection of Tyler. Except for the hockey jersey, which didn't really fit with his artistic vision. After coming up with the name, and telling Gabe the story behind it, he immediately regretted saying it, fearing an angry reaction from Proto, but it never came--probably because a stupid nickname had no chance of endangering anyone--and so the name stuck. Proto's appearance may have been more socially acceptable than Kinsey's Fear, but there was something about the physique, the musculature, and the fact that it wasn't a real person at all--just that part of Tyler's personality that once made him beat a guy's face in--that made Scot want to keep his distance. 

Unlike Kinsey's fear, this thing seemed almost rational, if hyper-focused on what was best for Kinsey... he'd tried a few times to engage in conversation with it, to overcome the sense of quiet menace, but if it didn't involve Tyler's sister, any of his attempts were simply ignored... and if it did involve her, he was too afraid it would get Proto to turn on them. So instead he talked mostly to Gabe. "You know, you put Proto here in a goalie mask, he would make a fantastic Jason Voorhees. Maybe after this is done, Tyler will let me do a little filming with him." It was mostly to hear himself talk, to cover his own nervousness... although he always did have an idea for a _Friday the 13th_ fan film lurking in the back of his head that Proto could help bring to life. Or he could try to make _Proto: The Movie_ again, but coming back to that script after abandoning the project he was afraid he'd hate it. He still wanted to create his own unique masterpiece, but working with someone else's characters was just easier, sometimes, the creators already put in most of the stuff he loved and all he had to do was add a few details they left out. Maybe it was egotistical, but he thought he could do Jason right. 

Surprisingly, his off-the-cuff idea did get a response from Proto this time, albeit a terse one. "When this is over, I go back inside Tyler, to protect Kinsey."

Which was a relief, of course, to see something from someone's head that knew where it belonged. And talking felt better than not-talking, so he pushed his luck. "Yeah, but Kinsey would be in the film too. You could be doing double duty." Though when he thought about it, he wasn't sure he'd want Kinsey in the same scene with Proto. Who knew how he'd react to a scene where she was in pretend-danger? Or even if she got too close with her boyfriend on set. "You know what, never mind." Probably best not to risk it, no matter how appealing the idea was. The idea of Proto playing Voorhees, that is. He didn't want Proto attacking Gabe. 

Really. Scot was _okay_ with Kinsey and Gabe dating. It was, after all, his decision, in the end... Kinsey had offered to date them both, but that wasn't the kind of relationship Scot wanted. Some people could do that, make it work, and more power to them, but not him, so he'd backed away. There was no reason to be bitter at either Kinsey or Gabe, who were his friends, and he wasn't doing this in an attempt to 'prove his worthiness' to Kinsey or anything dumb like that. Besides, he was just starting to get close with a girl he'd met through a film geek group online. She was his age, but lived in Boston, which made it a little slow to get going, but she seemed really cool and he was optimistic enough about it going somewhere that he planned a trip later in the summer to meet up and see if there were any sparks. He wasn't secretly harboring feelings that helping Kinsey with her problem might make her regret not choosing him. 

Okay, maybe if he were absolutely honest with himself, if someone used the Head Key on him they might find a very tiny petty version of himself who _did_ want that, or to punch Gabe... but you can't blame someone for the tiny demons inside them as long as you kept them bottled up... maybe that was why it was so important to him to find Kinsey's Fear.

"Hey, Scot, this looks like where we saw it last, right?" Gabe asked. He looked around, hair standing a bit on end as he recognized certain landmarks. He hadn't realized they were so close, but Gabe had guided them pretty expertly to where they'd had their last encounter, despite it being deep in the woods.

"Yeah. That's the tree where..." he lifted the arm in its sling, trying not to remember the sick cracking sound, the incredible pain.

"Right. Then after, it dashed off..." Now, Gabe seemed less sure of himself, his face almost exactly what he'd like for an actor in his film to be if he was lost in the woods in a _Blair Witch Project_ type situation. Luckily, they weren't dumb enough to come without their phones. "That way?" he pointed. 

"More that way, I think," Scot corrected. He had a good view from his spot on the ground, curled up in agony, whereas the others were focused on making sure he was okay. "I remember it jumping over that log there."

" _She_." Proto's voice was quiet, but insistent. "Kinsey's Fear is a _she_ , like Kinsey."

Even Kinsey referred to her Fear as an _it_ , usually. Scot sometimes went back and forth, wasn't entirely sure it mattered, but are you going to argue with a hulk like Proto? And Proto absolutely seemed like a _he_. " _She_ jumped over that log there, and then we lost her."

Without a word, Proto stalked off in that direction, and Scot and Gabe followed. At first his eyes were ahead, and occasionally down on the ground, like he was some kind of movie barbarian showing off his tracking skills, but as they continued, his eyes drifted upwards, towards the sky. 

"I don't think she can fly," Scot said finally, then confirmed with a look to Gabe. "She can't, right? Did I miss a lore drop somewhere?"

While Gabe shrugged at Scot's question, Proto uttered a single word in explanation, "Trees." 

"It's Fear, though," he reasoned. Proto's gaze continued uninterrupted as though he hadn't said anything. "Soooo, probably Fear of Heights, too."

"Kinsey is not a coward." Proto whirled on Scot so quickly he flinched.

He held up his free hand defensively, gripping the taser tightly, hoping he wouldn't need it. He wasn't even sure it'd work on whatever Proto was made of, but it did make him feel better when Gabe gave him it. "I never said that. I just... it's natural to be scared of heights. I mean, they make _me_ a little..."

"Kinsey and Tyler climbed trees together. It made her feel safe. Being in a tree might well soothe her Fear now too."

It hadn't occurred to him, but now that he thought about it, when Kinsey invited him into her head, there was a section of her memories involving climbing trees. He'd just assumed that even if there were good memories, they still contained fear, like his would have. Scot's gaze slid to Gabe, mostly to see if he'd known this fact or if it came as a surprise, but the other teen shrugged as though it was his opinion being sought. "This _is_ why we brought him."

"I thought we brought him to be a human meat shield." Maybe not entirely human, but it was hard not to think of Proto as that when he was standing right in front of them.

"That too. But if it knows where Kinsey's Fear might go, then this hunt will be a lot easier. I mean all those other times we were searching out here for nothing, we weren't even looking in the trees. Who knows how many times we walked right past it... her."

After a few seconds of walking, searching, Scot asked, "Do you think we should have, like, prepared a cage or something, in case we do catch her Fear?" 

"It's not exactly easy to get a human-sized cage in Matheson, Scot," he said, as though he'd tried, then patted the large but mostly empty duffle bag over his shoulder. "But I've got some nylon rope in here. We might not even need that. Kinsey said she stuffed her Fear in a bag when she buried it, so this thing might hold if... Proto here can subdue her." A grunt and low growl was Proto's response, but not an especially angry one, just a subtle sound of annoyance, maybe disapproval, but at least not the violent sort.

The ground began to slope downwards dramatically, and Scot didn't see anything, but Proto suddenly stopped, put his hand up, his nostrils flaring as though he smelled something in the wind. "You two go no further."

It took a second and a glance at Gabe before Scot decided to question the command. "But..."

"Stay. We are approaching the heart of the hunt." The heart of the hunt didn't look any different to Scot than the rest of the wandering around in the woods... no sign of a Fear monster, just a lot of trees and bushes. "From here, I will find her Fear, then I will return, her Fear conquered, tamed." He began to pull the backpack off Gabe, who let it slide off his shoulder when he realized what Proto wanted, and then Proto put it on his. "Or I will fail, and we try another way. But she is my responsibility and you will not interfere. If the two of you are there, you _will_ get hurt. You might scare her." 

" _We'll_ scare her?" Scot wasn't offended, just incredulous.

"And distract me. Or lash out with this." His hand whipped out for Scot's, the one holding the taser, holding it up before Scot could even consider whether he might use it defensively. "If I see you, know my vow... for her, I will destroy _anything_ that scares her." The moment hung in the air, tense, Scot wondering if maybe Proto really was more dangerous than Kinsey's Fear, that he was right to be nervous those times he visited her house and saw her brother. "Yet Kinsey would prefer you not be hurt. So do _not_ follow."

"Fine," Gabe said smoothly, the same way he diplomatically solved conflicts among the Savinis. "We won't interfere. Take your shot. We'll wait right here. Won't we, Scot?" 

"Uh, sure." Truth be told he'd wanted to be more involved in capturing Kinsey's Fear, but if Proto could handle it with no risk or effort on his part he wasn't going to complain. He sat on a moss-covered rock. "Do what you need to do."

One last long look into the trees, and then Proto burst into motion, running down the slope at top speed. A distant, animal-like sound, somewhere between a snarl and squeal, caught Scot's attention and he watched, from a distance, seeing a small dark form drop from one of the trees directly in Proto's path, and also take off running, away from Proto. He'd found the Fear already, saw her in the trees, or smelled her, or maybe there was some kind of magical connection between Kinsey's Fear and Tyler's Protectiveness. That made a certain kind of sense to Scot... both entities were probably born out of the same trauma. Sure, everyone had small-F fear, and most older siblings were protective, but it seemed like it was only after the sudden tragic death of their dad that both took on a life of their own. So in a weird metaphysical way, Proto and Kinsey's Fear were like twins... maybe that included a kind of twin telepathy.

It made about as much sense as anything else involving them.

Scot pocketed the taser, and then retrieved his phone in exchange, woke it up... it was a lot slower doing things one-handed, but he had time to kill... or thought he had. He looked up to see Gabe slowly moving down the hill. "What are you doing?"

A smirk formed on his face. "You're not going to _actually_ wait here, are you?"

"I tend to take the threats of weird thought-monsters seriously, I don't know about you."

"He said he'll destroy anything that scares her. So we won't scare her, we'll just watch from a distance. Come on, don't tell me you don't want to watch two monsters fight it out?"

Watching two monsters fight _did_ sound appealing... but only if they were a little more monstery. Proto and Kinsey's Fear both looked human enough that any fight between them was going to look like a giant man attacking a woman and that wasn't something that really excited him... it disturbed him a little that Gabe was so eager to watch. Yet he was interested in a more abstract way, not wanting to miss the heart of the hunt, as Proto called it, so Scot found himself coming to his feet and following... after all, Kinsey's Fear seemed to be pretty scared already, just by the sudden chase, and in the end he'd rather know what was happening than sit back wondering. 

He followed Gabe more than Proto, reasoning that he was coming more to be a backup for him than anything else, not that he was likely to be able to fight off either of the potential threats with one arm in a sling, even with a taser, but he could be a voice of reason, at least, remind Proto that it would harm Kinsey more if they were hurt. As they continued, he became convinced that Gabe had lost the trail and they were going in completely the wrong direction anyway. Until Gabe stopped, put his hand up, causing Scot to stop too. They crouched together behind a cluster of trees, and finally his eyes were drawn to something moving in a break in the trees off in the distance, something that matched the colors of Proto's jersey. If they were at the same elevation, they might not have been able to see them through the trees, but with the higher ground two figures were visible. 

Proto had apparently caught up to Kinsey's fear... and there must have been an extended chase to get so far ahead, but the fight--if there was one--was over. The two sat in a close huddle... in fact, the Fear monster was in Proto's arms, shaking... and though it might have been a struggle, Fear trying to escape Proto's massive restraining arms while he wrapped the rope around her, it didn't seem like that. Instead, although they weren't close enough to hear, it looked more like Fear was leaning into Proto, crying on his shoulder perhaps. A being composed entirely of fear finally finding someone who she could trust to protect her, to let all that pent-up anxiety. 

In a way, it was incredibly heartwarming. The heart of the hunt containing actual heart. Who would have guessed?

Until Kinsey's Fear turned around, leaned forward, arms clearly unrestrained, and, holding her by the neck or shoulder, Proto pushed his lower body towards hers, again, and again. For just a second he thought he was foiling her attempt to escape but then... "Are they...?"

Gabe's face lost that usual smug, confident look... his eyes were wide, mouth slack, not sure how to deal with this. "Uh..." He looked away for a moment, face pale, and turned his eyes back to the scene as though hoping a second look would convince him he got the wrong idea, that they were really fighting like wild animals. Scot looked too, but no, that was definitely not fighting, and if anything, on second glance it looked even more like a very different kind of animalistic activity. "Yeah," Gabe said, finally. "I think they are."

Scot laughed, a brief, nervous chuckle. It wasn't funny. It was _a little_ funny, maybe, but the laugh sprang from the pure strangeness of the situation, mixed with some relief. Maybe he did have a little bit of resentment for Gabe and Kinsey dating, but now he felt like maybe he dodged a bullet. "You, uh, realize that that's basically your girlfriend, and her brother, right?"

"No, it's not." Gabe's answer was snapped, insistent. "That... thing is not Kinsey, and Proto's not Tyler. These are just... fragments of them. It doesn't mean anything about the real Kinsey."

 _Maybe,_ Scot conceded. "Yeah. You know, they might not even _actually_ be having sex. They're like metaphors, right? Maybe it's just... metaphorical sex." If Kinsey could stab her Fear to keep her down for a while, why was sex any more ridiculous as a way to defeat her? If it _was_ sex. They weren't even obviously unclothed, though they were too far away for Scot to be sure whether something was just moved out of the way or if it was just an elaborate grind. The motions sure _looked_ like sex, though, moves like out of one of those porn videos where it's particularly rough and aggressive, almost violent, except for the clear fact that both sides were into it, and Fear did seem to be a willing participant, even if the passive one. _Proto did say he'd conquer her..._ It was almost primal... like fear and protectiveness were. Just primal fragments of a whole psyche. Fragments that fit together really well. "But aren't you worried that...?" 

"You were in Kinsey's head, right?" Gabe pointed out. "And I was in Tyler's. Did you see any hint of anything like this? I know I didn't." Jutting out his lip, Scot shook his head even as he thought back on what he saw--feeling a little superior that Kinsey had apparently never let Gabe into _her_ head. The mall stores, the directory, the candy shop memories... Tyler was mentioned a lot, sure, but nothing jumped out as inappropriate. But then he hadn't seen much of anything that was scandalous. For all he knew there was a dark sublevel like in _Stranger Things_ full of her darkest secrets "Do you think they'd have let us in if there was anything like that to find?"

"Yeah, I guess not," he said, with more conviction than he felt. 

"You realize we can't tell either of them about this, right?" Gabe said. "Or anyone else?"

"Oh, totally," Scot agreed, automatically, although the decision didn't sit entirely well with him. Not to refrain from telling everyone else... that just made sense, particularly when it was so ambiguous, but maybe Kinsey and Tyler deserved to know. Unless they already did, and this was some representation of things already going on.

"Come on," Gabe said, walking away suddenly. "We definitely don't want Proto catching us now." Scot agreed with that unreservedly, and after one last look turned away from the scene, walked in silence with Gabe back to the spot where Proto warned them not to follow, warned them as though he knew what was going to happen and didn't want to be seen. Scot didn't bring that theory up as they waited... they didn't talk about what they'd seen at all, in fact, although it was hard not to keep all the _What Ifs_ and _What Might That Mean_ from running through his own mind in the silence. 

Something like a half hour later, they heard the bushes rustling, followed by faint snarling. It wasn't from the same direction Proto first ran off, nor from a straight line to where the two caught up with each other. It was almost as though Proto deliberately took a circuitous path, like he was trying to hide something... or maybe scare them. For a moment, Scot _was_ scared, that the two had joined forces to take out any potential witnesses... but then Proto came into view, leading Kinsey's Fear who followed meekly behind him. One of the nylon ropes both helped Proto guide Kinsey's Fear and keep her from running... the ropes were wrapped around her body several times, pinning her upper arms and then wrapped around her wrists again, but she didn't seem like an unwilling prisoner fighting for her life and more like a character in a movie who's willingly allowed themselves to be tied up because they might turn into a monster at any moment. Even her snarls seemed to be more directed at everyday frustrations like having to bat a tree branch out of her path. Towards Proto she seemed deferential, even submissive. Still, if Scot hadn't seen what he'd seen, the word _Kinky_ probably wouldn't have run through his head right then, as it had. "It is done," Proto said.

"Any... problems?" Scot asked, not sure why, it wasn't as though he was expecting a confession. 

Nor did he get one. "No," was all Proto said. "Let us go."

The plan was to bring Kinsey's Fear, and Proto, to the groundskeeper shed on the Locke property, an out-of-the-way place that seemed like it'd be safe to wait for Kinsey and Tyler to return. Scot suggested calling right away, but Gabe thought it would be better to wait until Fear was locked in a room. Kinsey was probably going to be angry for doing all this without even consulting her, and he felt a stab of guilt at that, but it would only be worse if they told her they caught her Fear and it somehow escaped by the time she arrived.

Not that her Fear seemed like she was inclined to escape. As they walked, the awkward vibes Scot was picking up on only continued, as Fear didn't seem to need the ropes, and indeed, sometimes he held them so loosely she could have made a break for it... but she seemed to want to stick near Proto, like a lovesick puppy. And, true to his origins, Proto was carefully attentive to her needs, looking back to her on any stretch of uneven ground to guide her carefully. If not for the ropes, which might well have been for their benefit more than anything else, he'd think they were a long term couple, so familiar and comfortable with each other than words didn't need to be spoken.

They were only reflections, true, but even distorted funhouse mirrors say something about the people, so the thought kept popping into his head, demanding he consider it, as a possibility, _What if it's not just these pieces of their personality that? What if _actual-_ Kinsey and _actual-_ Tyler did..._

His thoughts didn't even want to settle on the word, until they finally did. _Incest_ It might not be true... after all, outside of Proto and Kinsey's Fear and how they were behaving, he'd never seen any evidence that even made his mind entertain the possibility. Well, almost none. He'd done a little research into Locke family history in an effort to impress Kinsey... not a lot, but he did notice siblings seemed to crop up now and again in history, and read this exact rumor about two of them in a Revolutionary War era diary. Much more recently, Scot heard gossip from someone in as assisted care facility about two Locke siblings who died in the early 80s that was supposedly a big family scandal. He'd completely discounted these stories as the kind of gossip bored or jealous people made up against the wealthy, never mentioned it to Kinsey because how do you bring something like _that_ up? Of course the idea of incest being some kind of Locke family curse was ridiculous. Maybe it still was. But that didn't mean it couldn't be true in this case. _And if it was..._ well, that was the question that kept circling his brain, until finally he decided to just deal with it. _Okay, let's imagine it's true._

It was weird. Incest was one of the biggest taboos humanity had. Yet unlike most other taboos, most other dark and twisted topics, his favorite genre, horror movies, rarely dealt with it. Oh, sure, every so often you got stories about weird cannibalistic mutant families that were the result of inbreeding, like _Wrong Turn_. Or the villains who were so evil it turned out they were incestuous, like in _The People Under The Stairs_. But it always seemed like an afterthought, compared to things like cannibalism and murder... the characters didn't even really have chemistry. Then there were the cases where chemistry wasn't a factor, where it was outright sexual abuse of one family member or another, either as backstory or looming threat, which was, unfortunately, a little more common. In a horror film, the right thing to do, the smart play, would be to tell everybody before things got worse.

Yet... Tyler and Kinsey didn't really seem like the type to start chowing down on random travellers. Kinsey was a vegetarian. And if they did have some kind of unhealthy relationship, it didn't look abusive... those tended to persist because of _fear,_ and Kinsey had removed hers... meaning nothing would have stopped her from going to the authorities with a story of abuse, or just running away, or kicking her brother's ass. There didn't seem to be any simmering resentment between the two, either... Kinsey and Tyler seemed to get along like any close brother and sister, occasional fights but an underlying strong bond, and it was hard to imagine her secretly loathing him. Even what he'd overseen of Proto and Fear didn't strike him as unwelcome, despite the pursuit that started it. He glanced back at them, just a moment, noticing Proto's gentle touch on side as though to reassure her everything was okay, they were just going home. Proto was protectiveness, and if anything would be holding back, and Fear wasn't afraid of his attentions. Maybe only the consequences. No, this wasn't the kind of incest horror had conditioned him for.

The reference point he kept coming back to was Guillermo del Toro. One of his favorites, and Zadie's too... the Savini Squad was almost going to be named the del Toro Trio (or maybe Guillermo Gang if they grew) before Doug admitted he'd only ever seen the first _Hellboy_ and wasn't that into it, so they went with the Godfather of Gore, Savini, who honestly he liked better anyway, was just worried that despite having a more extensive oeuvre, he'd have to explain who he was to more people, which tragically turned out to be the case. Besides, Scot was more interested in making gore-heavy horror, while, as Doug pointed out, del Toro's work often leaned more heavily into dark fantasy, with horror elements sprinkled in. Maybe that explained why he seemed to dance with the topic in a different way. In _Crimson Peak_ the villains were incestuous, true, but unlike other examples of the trope, he sympathized with the couple, in a twisted way, almost rooted for them... not to get away with their scheme, they were wrong, but he could still wish that they could have found a way to be happy somehow. Discussing _Crimson Peak_ with Zadie (when Doug, the philistine, was out of the room), she made the claim that siblings in del Toro films always seemed like they were secretly fucking anyway, and he wasn't sure he bought that, but he couldn't deny the intense vibe that kept cropping up with his sibling characters... the twins in _Hellboy 2_ , the Becket brothers in _Pacific Rim_ , the heroic revolutionaries in _Pan's Labyrinth_. Not explicitly incestuous anywhere outside of _Crimson Peak_ , at least not within the movie (commentaries in one case made it arguable, but he didn't always trust the word of the artist). With _Labyrinth_ , he thought the siblings actually _were_ lovers his first watch through, and even after he realized his mistake he could almost see shipping them as much as Zadie did. If it wasn't wrong. So they said, anyway.

There was an unfortunate moralistic streak in horror, and maybe that's why incest was always tied closely with evil, because it was perceived as a crime against the natural order, how society insists things should be. The same misguided thinking that usually makes 'sluts' die first. But in dark fantasy, the natural order is always an illusion, and when violations happened in stories like those, sometimes it seemed like the true horror was that the world didn't accept them. Judging by the fact that he was walking through the woods with two creatures brought out of his friends' heads with magical keys, the world was more a dark fantasy world anyway, which was probably a good sign all around. 

So what if Tyler and Kinsey _were_ doing something weird behind closed doors? As long as it was consensual, what business was it of his? As long as no kids were involved, at least... and who knows, if they've got a magic key that goes in their head, maybe there's one that prevents pregnancy, or corrects problems, too. Assuming they were actually doing anything, maybe it was just a vibe, chemistry they both noticed but suppressed so hard that only these pieces of them could act on them. Maybe that was why Kinsey didn't want to commit to dating just one person, because it wasn't who she really wanted, deep down... oddly enough, that actually made Scot feel better than her just not being able to decide between him and Gabe. 

Either way, he couldn't help but think of the nickname he gave Kinsey long ago... _Rocky Road_. It might be truer than he ever imagined. But now, just as then, he didn't want to be the one to make it any rockier. The right thing to do in dark fantasy would be to let the magic happen, without trying to hunt it down and expose it, even if it was weird and unsettling... that was what he was already doing with the secret of the keys, so why not extend it to the secret of the Lockes?

 _If_ there was a secret. It was probably just as Gabe said, a random coincidence, fragments that fit together, meaning nothing about the people they came from. If Gabe could buy that theory, who was Scot to cast doubt? The only thing that worried him was whether they deserved a heads up, a warning before they put their wayward pieces back in their heads, in case it changed something. 

But how do you tell someone something like that? _Hey, Kinsey, you might want to know your brother's Protectiveness just shagged your Fear out in the woods. Looked like she really enjoyed it, too._ And it wasn't like they could just leave Proto and Fear outside of themselves... Proto, at least, would probably insist on going back.

In the end, he decided it wasn't his business. Gabe's, maybe, he was dating Kinsey, and this idea of bringing Proto out was mostly _his_ idea. If he warned them, fine, or maybe they'd pick up on the weird vibe between their two fragments and ask... but, if not... it was just going to be something Kinsey and Tyler had to work out for themselves.


	4. Kinsey - Conflicts of Conscience

The vibe had gotten weird since Jackie left. When it was the three of them, it made a sort of sense. Jackie was dating Kinsey's brother, and even if she had mixed feelings about that, she owed it to Tyler to make an effort and be friendly with her. And Eden and Jackie were friends, so of course they'd hang out together. 

But now, Kinsey was alone with Eden, and their relationship had never been the greatest, and even if they were getting along _now_ , for the most part, it still felt a little like things were on a knife edge. Like at any moment Eden would pay her back for the way her Fear attacked her, which arguably wasn't really Kinsey's fault, or the music box stunt, which absolutely was (and which Eden had to suspect, even if she didn't know all the details). Or maybe she wouldn't. Eden had shown surprising depth, forgiving the assault, and even coming with them to deal with Dodge. Maybe she was a genuinely nicer person than she'd first given her credit for. Everyone had their bad days, their moments where they were the unreasonable asshole... God knows, Kinsey had. Sometimes she didn't have her crisis of conscience until _after_ she'd done the bad thing, but she still had them. 

Still, despite her lingering guilt over maybe mistreating Eden, her first instinct when Jackie left was to find an excuse to ditch herself. She even opened her mouth to do so, got out a "Maybe..." but it seemed like Eden had already guessed the direction her thoughts were going. 

"Stay, stay," she said. "I don't want to drink alone. That would just make me look sad and pathetic." Kinsey could have taken offence then, on her Mom's behalf, felt the instinctive protective anger rising up, but then pushed it down, let it calm over. Eden couldn't know how close the alcoholism "in her family" was, and what she said, though perhaps insensitive and unfair, wasn't any worse than some of Kinsey's own darker thoughts. 

And the alcohol she herself had downed, though she was still far behind Eden, was giving everything a nice, pleasant haze, a danger sign if she saw it in Mom, but Kinsey, she could handle this for a while, she'd stop before it got to the bad side of the coin... this was just one afternoon, not something she expected to make a habit of. 

Whether spending time with Eden could be a habit, it remained to be seen. For a long time, her friend groups tended to be mostly male... no particular reason, aside from, perhaps, that often they grew out of her relationship with Tyler, her just adopting his friends because she didn't want to give up hanging out with him, and even when he wasn't a factor, the habits seemed to lead to her continuing the pattern, winding up in groups like the Savini Squad. It wasn't like she was one of those "I prefer hanging out with guys because I've internalized misogyny," types, she'd had strong friendships with other girls, but they tended to be slower to build and most of them now left behind on the other side of the country, aside from infrequent texts. Here in Madison, she hadn't really formed tight bonds like those... plenty of girls she was friendly with, but no clear standout. She and Zadie never really clicked, and in other situations Jackie might have been a contender, but dating her brother limited how close they could be. As for Eden, she wouldn't have been Kinsey's first choice... or even in her top twenty, but she might as well give it a chance while she was here. Surprisingly, it wasn't awful, so far. It had even gotten kind of fun there, for a while, Eden's outrageous questions, getting to know some of the things she'd wondered about. And just learning the local gossip.

She wondered if it really was true what Eden said about the Wheeler sisters. Probably not. The town wouldn't just stop by and let something like that happen without intervening to stop it. Would they?

So, Kinsey decided to stay, play the Truth or Drink game. Most of Eden's questions seemed to focus on Tyler, making her wonder if the girl still harbored some kind of feelings for him, despite her best friend dating him. Other questions related to Gabe, although oddly these were less intimate than ones about Tyler, focusing on hypotheticals like, "What's the worst thing Gabe could ask you to do that you'd do?" Kinsey couldn't really think of an answer to that question, not because she was too enamored with him to consider him doing something wrong, but just because it was to vague and dependant on context. After all, she wouldn't help him cover up a cold-blooded murder or anything--not that he seemed capable of that--but he did literally help her move a body and if it was a situation like _that_ she'd obviously help there. So lacking a good answer, she just she drank another sip of the warming liquid. 

After a while, they stopped doing questions, tried a bit with dares, but they'd petered out, too. Kinsey's lack of Fear should have made her more daring but there was only so much they could do, or dare each other to do, alone in a pool that wouldn't risk changing their relationship in ways neither of them were interested in. 

Instead, Kinsey took to the pool, started as part of a diving dare, but enjoying the activity of it, the freedom, the coolness of the water on a hot day, more than just lying in the sun drinking like Eden seemed to prefer. They'd fallen into a companionable silence, as Kinsey drifted about and Eden sat on a chair, interacting with her phone and occasionally sipping from her drink. 

Just as she was starting to wonder how long it took before the silence moved into the awkward territory, there was the ring of a doorbell from inside. Eden pushed herself up and ran in through the sliding glass door, and Kinsey just lounged back, letting herself float, enjoying that almost weightless sensation, until she heard Eden returning, announcing, "Looks like we've got a little company joining us."

She pulled herself upright again, suddenly heavy with a sensation, not quite dread but a distinct feeling of "great, now I have to deal with..." Until she saw her brother following Eden out into the pool. "Tyler?" It was a bit of a relief, her first instinct was that she really didn't want to deal with Gabe and what he might think of her in a swimsuit. "Uh... you're a little late. Jackie already left."

"Yeah, Eden mentioned," he said, but didn't seem bothered. His eyes fell on hers, then dropped, watching her slowly tread water. 

"The text led me to believe it was going to be a little more of a group," Eden explained, revealing this wasn't as much of a surprise to her as it was to Kinsey. "I'd have tried harder to keep her here if I knew it was just going to be you."

Tyler looked down again at Kinsey in the pool, and she shot him a closed-mouth smile. He smiled back, said, "But hey, the pool's still here, right?"

" _Mi poolsa es su poolsa_ as they say." Eden extended a hand.

"You can change in the pool house," Kinsey suggested with a bob of her head, but before she got through the word pool, Tyler was already pulling off his shirt, leaving him pretty much ready for a swim if he was willing to just dive in with the shorts he was wearing... which, from past experience, he probably was. _No speedo_ she reflected, thinking of Eden's comment when they were first invited. Eden had to be disappointed.

"Or not," Eden said, looking him over. "I guess it's probably a good thing I never did get around to that skinny dipping dare, huh Kinsey?"

While she spoke, Tyler was casually looking in Eden's direction, but his gaze whipped back to Kinsey, eyes falling below the waterline. It was so fast it was almost funny... no, it _was_ funny. She knew why it'd happened, her brother didn't want to be caught staring at his girlfriend's best friend in a skimpy swimsuit right after she'd talked about the possibility of wearing even _less_. The fact that, seeking an escape from trouble, his eyes instead lingered on his own sister, long enough that she could almost imagine...

The laugh burst out of her then, hard enough that it launched a tiny spray of water, which came nowhere near anyone else but seemed to startle Tyler and that suddenly seemed even more hilarious, his look like he'd be caught at something, when she knew there was no _way_... the giggle continued, way too long but as long as she was laughing the hollow, numb ache that that also followed the observation was held at bay, and finally the fact that she was laughing way too long became funny in itself.

"Sorry," she heard from Eden, which gave her a chance to finally catch her breath, stop her laughing fit. "We've already been having a little fun." Eden bent at the knees and picked up the bottle, poured a bunch in a cup. Tyler was putting his wallet and the other contents of his pockets in his shoes by the leg of a chair so they wouldn't get wet or lost, and when he stood up, he found Eden handing the cup to him. "You should catch up."

Kinsey remained tensed, the humor of the moment a ghost of a memory, waiting for him to say something about her drinking, play the 'big brother' card. Having an older brother had downsides. Sure, the fact that he was always there, ready to back her up if she really needed it, was a constant source of comfort. And sometimes the awareness that he looked out for her--more than he did himself sometimes--sent a secret shiver of pleasure up her spine, like they were partners with an unspoken pact, because she would put herself in danger for him, too, if he only needed it. At the same time... the weight of his judgment could be such a drag, especially when it got to be this kind of hypocritical bullshit. Tyler smoked pot and drank but because she was just a little bit younger it was a huge scandal if she did anything like that. Or it felt that way, anyway... often he wouldn't say anything, but he'd give her this _look_ , like he was disappointed in her or something, that he might not stop her but she should know better, _be_ better than he was. 

Except this time, there was no look... or there was, but just a brief glance, and there didn't seem to be any accusation in it, and he shrugged, downed the contents of the cup without any apparent shame for setting a poor example. Maybe they'd finally reached a point where he stopped seeing her as a child. Kinsey wasn't sure how she felt about that. 

"So, what do you say, want to go back to _Truth or Dare or Drink_?" Eden asked it casual, while she was pouring more in Tyler's cup, but then her voice pitched up, like she really thought she could tempt them, "With three people I bet we could get some really fun dares in..." Leaving the thought dangling, leaving it up to Kinsey's own imagination at what crazy things the instinctive shit-disturber Eden might dare with her and her brother as the only options... she shivered, even though the cool water wasn't that chilly on the warm summer day. 

"I really mostly came to swim," Tyler said after a moment's thought. Just as well. Even if Eden was shameless and Kinsey could be fearless, her brother wasn't... and fear or not, bad ideas could still be bad ideas. Swimming was probably a better one. 

Eden seemed more disappointed than Kinsey. "Fine, if you want to be _boring_ ," she said. "The pool's wide open. Go nuts. Personally I'd rather soak up the sun." She relaxed back in her chair and put on a pair of stylish sunglasses.

Setting his drink by the tiled edge of the pool, Tyler backed away, then took a run up and jumped, balling up in a classic cannonball and landing into the water with a tremendous splash. 

The arm Kinsey thrust up by instinct didn't offer much protection from the spray, which splashes across her face and some even got in her eye. "Hey, watch it!"

"Yeah, Tyler, watch out," Eden agreed. "You got your sister wet." She took a sip of her drink and said casually, "Well I guess she was already wet, but... you know, still, rude."

It seemed to Kinsey to be incredibly rude, and thought she'd better respond quickly with a splash of her own, right in his face, and then after the soft O of surprise his lips made, he had the nerve to look offended and sprayed her face again. After her return splash, she said "Splash me _one_ more time, Tyler, and I swear..." 

There was an infuriating smirk on her brother's face, and she knew by the light in his eyes he was not just going to give in this time, and before she even finished her vow, he tossed a handful of water in her direction. That was it, exchanging fluids wasn't going to be enough, she was going to have to get physical. Using the edge of the pool, she launched herself at him, grappling his body, trying to push him under. In situations like this, at least for the last few years, usually he'd wind up struggling a token amount but then let her win. Not that she felt she needed to be _let_ win. Sure, he was stronger than her... just looking at his shirtless upper body would have proved that to anybody, but there were other factors that she had to her advantage... speed, fearlessness, knowledge of his ticklish spots. 

This time, though, he put up a far more aggressive defence than she expected, pushing at her, and indeed his hands landed on one of her own ticklish spots, just under her rib cage, fingers as if by accident falling on either side in his efforts to keep her away, thumb stroking with a light touch that might have made her giggle if the unexpected contact had happened when she wasn't already worked up. It did make her shiver with surprise but she was slick enough to wriggle away as he tried to reverse and pull her under, though his arm caught her again as she turned away, under her arms and pulling her back against his chest... but just for a second, as she bent over suddenly, putting her own chin under water but giving her the room to elbow him. She regretted the action, immediately, both for the soft _oof_ of pain or surprise she elicited, and because it might have been interesting to see what his next move might be, but they were siblings, and sometimes, winning overruled everything else, she wanted his head under water. The elbow loosened his grip enough that she was able to wriggle free and splash him in the eyes. While he was distracted by that, instead of going for distance, Kinsey immediately slipped around him and grabbed onto his back. She climbed him like was a mountain, although a slick warm one that moved in unexpected ways, and before long she had to wrap both her arms and legs around him just to keep from being shaken off, like when he used to give her piggy-back rides, but her head was above his and she just had to force him down to claim her victory.

Though it was exhillirating to have the upper hand, her brother was strong enough to carry her and being entirely on his back she realized she lacked the leverage to succeed at toppling him, looked around for some kind of plan, and noticed Eden watching them, sunglasses pulled down, an ambiguous smirk on her face. As she tried to decipher it, she felt herself tipping, tipping, as Tyler must have decided falling backwards was easier than prying her free, and soon she was underwater... but held on for the ride all the way down, ensuring that at least he would go under before her, and only released her grip on him after they were both submerged. 

She broke contact, kicking away to get some distance, suddenly self-conscious from Eden's gaze, although when she surfaced again and looked in that direction the other girl was looking at her phone. Eden made a face, then stood up with a frustrated grunt. "Ugh... okay, looks like I have to run a little errand. Part of the house-sitting deal. I need to go down to their PO box and collect something that just got delivered because apparently, even on some tropical island, Javi's dad needs to check on it right away." Her exasperation subsided and she asked, "You two going to be okay if I leave you alone for like, half an hour? An hour, tops."

"We could come with you..." Tyler offered. 

"No, it's probably better I handle this alone." She slipped on some sandals and wrapped a sarong around her lower body making a makeshift skirt, although seemed comfortable with just her bikini top to do her errand. "You two stay, though, don't let me interrupt this sibling bondage session."

"I think you..." Kinsey started, but then decided it was probably better not to call attention to what she'd said instead of _bonding_ , so she finished up with, "...should let Tyler drive you."

"Please. I may be a lot of things, Kinsey, but I'm not the kind of idiot who gets in a car with someone who's been drinking." Tyler had only had a little, compared to them at least, but it was probably a good point regardless. "It's a nice day, I could use the walk. Don't let my responsibilities spoil your fun." 

"Maybe we should just go then," she suggested. "I mean, it's been fun but I'm sure I want to deal with what happens if anyone asks what we're doing here. Tyler can go track down Jackie or whatever, and I was thinking of going to check in on Scot anyway..."

"No," Tyler said quickly. _Too quickly._ He relaxed immediately, tried to play it off like it was nothing, but looked at Kinsey in with false casualness. "I mean, Eden's right, I probably shouldn't drive for a while, and there's a pool right here, so... why not hang out here and enjoy ourselves?" Her eyes narrowed at him, and he must have misread her suspicion. "I promise I won't splash you."

Eden chimed in, "And you don't have to worry about anyone bothering you, like, nobody can see you except if they're on the property anyway. Just chill, keep the party going for me when I get back... finish the bottle, if you want, there's another one stashed in the pool house." 

Kinsey already knew this, watched Eden bring it out 'just in case' and at the time she didn't think they'd need to break into it, just the two of them... and she still didn't, not with her brother. Since Tyler just said he should wait before driving, that meant the invitation was more for her. But Tyler didn't say anything about that, either. She shrugged her acquiescence, for the moment, and waited until Eden walked into the house, presumably on her way out through the front door. After she judged she wouldn't be overheard, she asked, "Okay, what's up with you?" 

He tried to play dumb, with a "What do you mean?" but Kinsey could see the 'hope I haven't just been caught at something' look in his eyes, like when he was paranoid Mom caught him smoking. Usually she hadn't, Mom could sometimes be oblivious, but Kinsey was more on the ball. 

She climbed to the edge of the pool, where their cups were, picked hers up, baiting her brother into saying something, but he didn't, so letting her feet dangle in the water she slid Tyler's cup to the edge where he had come to meet her, then took a sip of hers. Still no reaction. "So we're just going to have drinks and swim?" He shrugged, like he was saying 'Why not?', so she put her drink down again. "Well, that may be fun for you, but I think I will go see what Scot is doing. Unless there's some problem with that..." The guilty look confirmed her guess that it wasn't just about leaving, something about Scot. "Come on, out with it. Is he okay?" 

"I'm sure he's fine." He looked away, into the sky, squinting at the bright light of summer, then back, seemingly having resolved some conflict with his conscience. "Scot and Gabe are out trying to catch your Fear." 

" _What_?" She pushed herself to her feet, fighting off a rush of dizziness as she did. "And you just _let_ them? Without me?" 

"I guess they thought you were protecting you. I guess I did, too. But I was wrong. You have the right to know." 

She was just about to complain that, since it affected her, she had the right to know, and him agreeing without being told was a bit of a surprise... but it didn't change her decision. "I'm going after them..." She took a few unsteady steps, where it felt like her feet might disappear under her. She hadn't moved much, outside of the water, since the drinking started, and it was throwing her off. 

"Kinsey, you don't even know where they are." 

Maybe not exactly, but she could text them, and they had better answer. She found where she left her phone, bent to pick it up and started unlocking it as she turned back to scold Tyler, found him watching her from the pool. "I can't believe you'd just let them run into danger, alone, without telling me." 

"They're not exactly alone..." he said slowly, meaningfully, as he heaved himself out of the water. "And I don't think they're in much danger." 

"Scot broke his arm last time. And Gabe... I mean, he's not exactly..." She trailed off, not sure she should finish what could only be an insulting comparison. He was cute, but scrawny. Looking at Tyler's wet musculature, he seemed even more ineffectual against fighting off a monster. 

"Yeah, well, they're not exactly doing the heavy lifting this time." He took a breath and added, "I used the Head Key, Kinsey." 

Kinsey's head snapped up from her phone. "What?" 

"It was _their_ idea. Drag something out of my head that couldn't be killed, that could fight your Fear." She looked at him again, more appraisingly, trying to figure out what it was from him that was missing, until he finally said, "My Protectiveness." His eyes dropped and he smirked. "It's a little more developed than your Fear, it can talk and everything. It agreed to help, because we convinced it that it would protect you. It'll protect Scot and Gabe too." 

That explained a lot about Tyler's behavior today, how he didn't care if she drank, maybe why he fought so hard against her in the pool. In some ways, it was what she always wanted and yet, somehow it felt like she'd lost a part of herself too. "So, what, without that, right now, you just don't care about me?" 

The amusement on his face faded. "Of course not, Kinsey. You're my sister, I've always got your back. If you were in real danger, I'd die to defend you..." Warmth returned to the part of her that felt like it might be hollowing out. "But I also know you don't need it, you can take care of yourself. I guess I always did, but...protectiveness is like fear, it can be a habit." He wiped his face, flicking off some extra water droplets that had dripped from his hair, and looked at her. "If you want to go help track down your Fear, we'll go see if we can find them. Even if it means getting my ass kicked." 

"I don't think my Fear would really hurt you..." she said. She hoped. 

He looked up at her, not seeming afraid, but the smile didn't seem entirely like a joke, either. "Yeah, but my Protectiveness might. That was the deal, I had to stay with you and keep you safe and away while it did the dangerous job. It would not be happy if I brought you right there." 

With that admission, and her awareness of how much what she'd been drinking was already affecting her, her urge to go had tapered off. Her conscience told her she _should_ , and she was fine with getting hurt in the process, but if it meant Tyler might have to pay the price, it wasn't as easy a decision. Besides, how likely was it Scot and Gabe'd actually even _find_ it? The three of them had, off-and-on searched for months and only rarely actually encountered her Fear. So, she sat down next to her brother, let her feet dangle in the water again, curious about this new side of him, a new thing they had in common, that they'd taken pieces of themselves out. Only she did it for selfish reasons, he did it for _her_. "So how do you feel, missing that... piece of yourself? Is it a relief?" 

"I don't know," he said. "In some ways, I guess. But it's kind of scary, too. Like, I feel a little like I'm walking on the edge of a pit, that without that instinct, I'll screw up, fail people. I mean, I'm not saying that instinct was always right, but... at least it was there. It was _something_." 

"I get that," she said. Kinsey didn't consider herself a fundamentally bad person, she tried to do the right thing most of the time... but she'd come to learn that sometimes when she had a conflict with her conscience and her desires, it was her Fear that tipped the scales, nudged her in the right direction. "It's the same with Fear. It kept me out of trouble." So did Tyler's Protectiveness, for that matter. If those two fragments ever met, she figured they'd probably just talk about how much Kinsey is screwing up her life. But it was _her_ life, and those gut instincts weren't always right. "And it's kept me from good things. Sometimes good things are worth trouble." Everyone deserved to be selfish sometimes. But not always. It was complicated. "Without the Fear... I have to _decide_ , and that's..." 

"Terrifying," Tyler finished, even if it wasn't quite the word she'd use. "But also... I mean, I know you never liked your Fear but me... it's like being protective of... people, it gave me a purpose, you know? I know you didn't like me scaring off creepy guys but..." 

She interrupted, "It wasn't always bad." Which was underselling it, sometimes when Tyler got like that, even if it also scared her, she remembered a rush that made her feel alive. And before, that sometimes scared her even more, drove her to try and get him to stop. "And anyway, you're not planning on _leaving_ it out, right?" He shot her a sidelong look, and the expression gave her answer, also made her wonder, not for the first time, if she'd been wrong in taking her own Fear out, leaving it out for so long. But she tried to think of the positives, both for herself and Tyler, and she hit upon an idea to make her brother feel better. "So think of it like a little vacation." He tilted his head. "Loosen up, have fun. Do things you wouldn't normally do." She stretched back to get Eden's bottle from where she'd last had it, poured the last of the amber liquid out of the bottle, divided between Tyler's cup and her own, thinking of the other one left in reserve in the pool house and this time wondering if they might actually open it. "Like play a game of _Truth or Drink or Dare_ with your sister?" Before he could dismiss the idea out of hand, she added, "I mean, if you're supposed to keep me here, that's _one_ way." It would be interesting to see the kinds of answers he'd give to certain questions, without Protectiveness. _Is that taking unfair advantage?_ she wondered, feeling another pang of her conscience in conflict with itself, then fought it off. They were on equal footing... he could just as easily exploit her lack of Fear, if he wanted to. 

Tyler looked like he sought his answers in his drink, and not in the usual way. "It actually might be safer to track down your Fear. Dare games... they can get people into a lot of trouble." 

If Kinsey hadn't known better, she'd think a statement like that came from overprotectiveness. "Come on," she said automatically. "You're on vacation from your self, remember? What's the big deal?" It wasn't like they were likely to dare each other to rob a bank, or set themselves on fire or anything really dangerous, anyway, so what kind of trouble could it get them into? 

Then she remembered a few years ago, back in Seattle, the rumors going around that Tyler had made out with the girlfriend of one of his hockey teammates during such a game, that despite their justifications of 'just a dare' that it had gotten more passionate that it should have, and the drama ruined a friendship. _But,_ she thought, her heart began to pump very loudly as she considered the words, _nothing like that could happen here, could it?_

Or _could_ it? _That_ really was a dangerous idea, but, in the space his suspicious silence allowed, Kinsey thought back on some of the looks her brother had given her today, looks that distinctly reminded her of the way other guys had acted around her over the years, looking at her only when she wouldn't notice... never Tyler, except for the briefest moments she assumed were her imagination. Maybe this was all her imagination too, playing tricks on her, making her think, when she'd looked back after reaching for the bottle, she'd caught his eyes roaming over her body. Or earlier, various appreciative glances, like he enjoyed the sight of her in a swimsuit. Or when they fought in the water, wrestling, his hands more aggressive then ever before but still with a trace of tenderness... or, for just a moment she thought she rubbed against something... _hard_. She'd dismissed all those at the time, but now allowed herself to consider, what if this was his instinct without his Protectiveness holding him back, that Protectiveness kept these desires hidden, that now, only conscious effort was keeping him in check. 

It was crazy. Probably not true. He was her _brother_ after all. And yet... it had been a conscious decision for _her_ , too, to not act on those secret impulses she'd kept hidden for far too long. Even fearless as she was in her heart, it didn't change the knowledge in her head that something was a very bad idea, that her brother would be repulsed, and that it _might_ actually be morally wrong. She wasn't entirely certain on that part... sometimes she felt a deep sense of shame, that she was an awful person because of thoughts that sometimes crossed her mind, and sometimes she thought it was just one of those unthinking prejudices people carried with them. Still, even aside from her conflicted conscience, all of her other concerns were usually enough to keep her from taking a stupid risk that could cost her everything. Only now her conscious mind was a little foggier, and in the light of this new theory, the bad idea might not be so bad. Even if Tyler was disgusted at the idea, she could say it was a joke. Bad taste, maybe, but she was drunk, or on her way there... though Tyler had no idea exactly _how_ much she'd had before he showed up. Besides, Kinsey wasn't even her whole self right now, and neither was Tyler. Those excuses might not be true tomorrow. Or any time after Eden returns. 

Tyler still hadn't said anything. Maybe he was just thinking of a good excuse for whatever protectiveness he was consciously deciding to give her. Or maybe he was wrestling with his own conscience, or his own fears. Well, everything else might be a little wobbly, but at that moment, Kinsey's conscience was clear. And she had no Fear to hold her back. "Okay, let's skip the dares." 

Despite that missing fragment, her heart beat furiously as she leaned in, half-expecting him to pull away... and he did, but not the sudden recoil that would have answered her question, but just slowly, like he wasn't sure what was happening. In the ambiguity, she decided to continue, figuring she'd gone too far to be left with doubts. The movement, and probably the effects of the alcohol, left her a little off-balance, and the hand she intended to rest on her knee landed in his lap just as their lips met. She wasn't sure which signal was more encouraging that this wasn't just in her head, the stiffening under her hand or way his lips opened to hers and began kissing back. 

But only for a few seconds, before he looked away. "What... what's going on here, Kinsey?" 

"I think we're hooking up." She laughed, not because it was funny... okay, it was a _little_ funny, but mostly the laugh was from the excitement inside bubbling up. "I'm hooking up with my brother." It sounded even weirder out loud. 

"No," he said, deflating her somewhat. "You've just had too much to drink. Otherwise you'd know... we can't do this." 

If it wasn't for the warm hard lump under her hand, she might believe he didn't want it. As if sensing his tell, Tyler slid out from under her, pushed himself to his feet, took a few steps away from the pool. Her heart felt heavy like it took a force of will to keep it from sinking. So she focused her will. "Is that what you feel, Tyler? Or just what you think you _should_ feel?" She'd known that impulse, too. The echo of fear that she didn't actually have anymore but had still formed habits. She stood up as well, remembering that kiss that she still felt on her lips and tongue, a kiss that felt _real_ , so she decided to try again, getting in his personal space, feeling in more control of her feet than before like she was used to whatever level of tipsiness was encouraging this. Tyler looked down at her as she approached, nervous, but not, she felt, like he was afraid of her but rather afraid of his own feelings. "You don't have to protect me anymore, remember... I'm a big girl, I can make my own decisions. So can you." 

"It's not just about you. This kind of thing is... dangerous." 

"Good thing I have no fear, then..." And proved it, by stepping forward one last time and going for another kiss. Again, he responded in kind, this time his hands going to her waists, it seemed like both of them were trembling despite the hot summer day. Her brother was a better kisser than she'd ever imagined, and it wasn't _just_ the novelty of it, there was _more_ here than there'd been with Scot, or even the naughty nervousness of her first kiss with Gabe while she had a boyfriend, knowing then that she was doing something wrong. That might still be true here, too, but it wasn't _just_ the taboo that made this better than other kisses. There was a feeling of trust here, even knowing Tyler no longer felt bound to protect her. 

The echo, the instinct, still seemed to be in him, because once again he broke off, gently held her at bay with his arms. "I'm serious. What about Gabe? Or Jackie?" 

Truth be told, she'd almost completely put them out of her mind, in the moment... and though she didn't really appreciate the reminder, now that he'd brought it up, she had to consider it, if only to justify. Gabe... well, he was fine sharing her with Scot, and they never promised exclusivity after. There was a little guilt due, but she decided it didn't really feel like a betrayal because it was nothing she could tell him even if they weren't dating. Jackie, that made her stomach knot up a little more... as much as she tried to tell herself that Tyler keeping today a secret was between the two of _them_ , not her, she knew she was going to have to wrestle with some guilt over instigating something he'd never be able to tell her. It certainly wasn't the first big secret he'd kept from her, but it was a doozy... except, they'd already crossed that line. Unless she could find a way to soothe his conscience, it might be for nothing. "It's not a big deal, Tyler. It's not like we're having sex." Probably. She didn't think she could push him that far, even with what she felt in her hand... but you never knew. "It's just a little fooling around, some harmless fun. It doesn't mean anything." It felt false even as she said it, but if it helped Tyler with whatever conflicts of conscience he was dealing with, she'd lie... and maybe it wasn't even a lie. "I mean, it _can't_ right?" That felt more truthful, even if it came with a stab of pain. "You're not really _you_ without your Protectiveness." But close enough. "Anything we do, it's not about us. It's just making the best of our unique situation today." 

It still felt like bullshit, but it was bullshit that looked like he might just be willing to consider. She leaned in again, and he gently held her back. "What if Eden comes back?" 

"She said half an hour at least," Kinsey pointed out. Probably more, judging by the distance and how slow Eden tended to be. It couldn't have been more than a couple minutes since she'd left, and so much had been done with those. He had a point, though... Eden _said_ nobody could see them, but she wasn't always right. But she wasn't as disappointed at this new objection... in fact, her heart began to pound with excitement again, because this time it seemed like he was worrying less about the moral dimension as he was the practical. It was his fear, not his conscience, she had to win over. And her missing own Fear helped her think practically in dangerous situations. There were ways to minimize risk. "Do you have any Keys with you?" 

His gaze turned back to the foot of one of the deck chairs, where he'd left his shoes and the contents of his pockets. "Just the Head Key, in my wallet." 

That wouldn't do for privacy... or it would--technically--but _whatever_ they were going to do before Tyler's conscience reasserted itself... doing it in one of their heads... _would that just somehow make it_ only _a fantasy_? She didn't want that, but unfortunately they were on a clock... she didn't bring any magic keys either, particularly the one which would be most useful. She just didn't want to risk it, knowing she'd be leaving her clothes behind. She didn't _completely_ trust Eden--or Jackie, for that matter--not to steal them. Now she regretted that, but her eyes looked past Tyler and to the wall of the convenient building he was leaned against. "So the pool house, then?" _If it's private enough to change..._ Not to mention that, if Eden came back they, could just pretend to be searching for that second bottle. It seemed perfect, so she tugged the waistband of Tyler's shorts towards the door, hoping he wouldn't come up with another reason to be against this. 

He followed, that adorable ' _I must be crazy for going along with this_ ' look on his face, one she was familiar with from a lifetime of being a younger sister, whenever she convinced him to let her do something he shouldn't. It was a look she always loved, not just because he was going along with what she wanted, but because she knew it meant that he really wanted it too, and she'd just won out over his protectiveness, which wasn't her enemy, exactly, but at least sometimes an opponent. 

Well, it was an opponent her Fear might have to be dealing with right now, but she didn't have to worry about that, for now. At they slipped into the dim privacy of the pool house, she pushed him onto the bench and then crawled on top of him into his arms, their lips meeting again this time with some sensation of privacy. They might regret this tomorrow, she knew in the back of her mind, but one of the best things about having no Fear was that it wouldn't taint whatever pleasure she squeezed out of today. 


	5. Gabe & Eden - The Devils in the Details

The being who was currently calling himself Gabe (and currently considering himself a him) kept his face a mask but inwardly smiled with satisfaction. There was always a little pleasure in a plan well executed, but he mustn't let it show, especially not as he watched the psychic fragment called Proto looming over the tied up form of Kinsey's Fear. At first glance it would seem like he was guarding against her escape, but watching the body language it was clear that Proto thought she was the one who needed to be protected. They might be immortal, but if Gabe tried to hurt Kinsey's Fear, he had no doubt Proto would hurt him in turn. Luckily, that wasn't part of the plan. 

Simple, earnest Scot sat beside him, in the shed full of groundskeeping supplies on Locke property that they decided would serve as a good spot to wait. He was looking at the magically anthropomorphized emotions like he still couldn't process what they had recently seen them doing together, and was doing his best to make it fit in his small provincial head. Or maybe trying to get the images out of his mind. Hopefully it would haunt him, the image of the girl he still secretly carried a torch for and her brother--or fragments of them--joined together in animalistic lust. Ideally such a revelation still wouldn't damper his yearning, just make it hurt more, give him questions. "So, are you..." Scot started to ask, as expected, though a little earlier than hoped. After a second's pause, he finished, "...going to tell Kinsey we've got her Fear soon?"

"Yeah," he said, looking over at Fear and Proto, pretending he was still uncomfortable with what he'd seen too. "Yeah. I just want to, you know, give it some time. You know, for the memories of... what happened to fade before it goes back into Kinsey's head." Proto hadn't responded to the various oblique references they'd made so far, because he was still pretty focused on Fear, but they still didn't want to alert it to exactly what they'd seen.

"Makes sense," Scot agreed at first, but then after watching the two, said, "But what if time they're spending together sort of... makes things worse?"

_Ideally._ But he couldn't say that aloud, not yet, so he went into his prepared rationalization. "That's not how it works. At least I don't think it is. I mean, you've got a fear of heights, right?" Scot had implied it earlier, at least a small one, so naturally that was filed away in case it became useful. "You think your Fear's going to hold onto a memory of the times it was safe on the ground doing something fun? Or just the moments you were suspended over an abyss and a single wrong step meant... splat." Scot didn't shudder, which was a shame, but the slight gulp he made was nice. "Just a little bit of time. Then we'll tell Kinsey." 

"Okay," Scot agreed, but didn't look entirely sold.

"Why don't you go over and talk to them?" he suggested. "Not about anything important, just, you know, distract them. You're good at talking to anybody, putting them at ease. And it might help speed things up." 

If a little doubt remained, the compliment, and a job he could help with, at least got Scot to stop pestering him. "Sure." He pulled himself to his feet, walked over to the door to the side room where Proto was guarding, protecting, Kinsey, and asked, "So, what's it like living in someone's head? Do you like watch through Tyler's eyes through a television or something?"

"No," Proto said begrudgingly, after making the same calculation Gabe often had to, that giving him some kind of answer would be less annoying than having Scot continue to pester. "I was not awake, until the key brought me out, just a part of Tyler. It was like... nothing."

Anyone else, Gabe might have said something along the lines of, "Like death." But there was always a chance that might make Proto abandon the plan, if Proto was too attached to the Fear entity that the idea of a return to a state of oblivion was unendurable. Kinsey's Fear needed to be back in place... having it out was useful, at times, but in the end, people were so much easier to control through Fear. 

Unfortunately Scot was still there, poking the bear. "And you're still okay going back to that?"

"It's better for Kinsey," Proto said, as though that was all that mattered. And maybe it was, the thing was incredibly single-minded. "For all of Kinsey's parts to be together. They're stronger that way. And easier to keep safe. And it's easier to keep _them_ safe if I am inside Tyler." 

_Perhaps it's right,_ Gabe considered dispassionately. If Tyler was missing his Protectiveness, Proto would have to worry about both of them... certainly it would be easier if they were both in the same place at all times. The more moving parts, the more challenging to control a situation... of course, Gabe liked a challenge, that's why his plans tended to be ridiculously complicated. Had to do something to entertain himself in this realm.

To that end, while Scot's attention was engaged, Gabe pulled out his phone and opened an app. It was designed for covert communications, marketed for those cheating in one way or an other, helping them pass text messages that wouldn't be accessible if someone else looked at their phone... the app even allowed you to prepare dummy conversations you could show if someone wondered what you were typing. The devil's in the details, as they said... it would suck if the entire plan came apart because someone was a little too curious. 

Scot was still being Scot, trying to be a good friend and distracting Proto and Fear, not realizing he was being distracted himself. "You know what else would be easier to keep them safe? If they made a lot of money... say by being part of a world-renowned independent horror film. Do you do any acting?"

"I will act when necessary to protect Kinsey."

"Okay, I don't mean 'acting' as in 'doing stuff,' I mean, pretending, saying things that aren't true, showing emotions that aren't real."

With a glance at Fear, Proto simply repeated, "I act when necessary."

"I mean, you really should consider starring in one the film projects we're making. You wouldn't even need to talk... we could just put a little makeup on you and you'd sort of act with your body. Let me throw some ideas at you..."

Even with Scot nowhere nearby, and all the measures of his message-passing app in place, Gabe kept himself somewhat circumspect, typing only, "How are things going?"

* * *

Elsewhere, standing at the edge of a second-floor window in Javi's house, the being still calling herself Eden kept her eyes on the pool house door--except, occasionally, to flick to her phone. She saw the discreet icon that indicated a new message appeared, double-tapped it to make it visible, then typed out a reply.

**Gabe:** How are things going?  
  
**Eden:** It took some doing, but I did my part  
  
**Eden:** I think  
  
**Eden:** They're in the pool house  
  
**Eden:** either fucking  
  
**Eden:** or making out  
  
**Eden:** or doing drugs  
  
**Eden:** or having a serious heart-to-heart anyway.  
  


Her eyes darted back to the window. Still inside, at least, and there's no innocent reason she could imagine to be alone in a small room like that when there's a fun pool to enjoy.

**Eden:** Can't find out for sure without getting closer and risk maybe interrupting  
  
**Eden:** Want me to anyway?  
  


A no reply came a few seconds later. _Pity..._ Eden hoped the answer was going to be yes. The first part of her task was fun, trying to find subtle ways to get Kinsey to think dirty thoughts about her brother, thoughts she might be ashamed of, get them both drinking to lower inhibitions and impair their better judgement. But then she had to leave them alone, give her flimsy excuse and--instead of going on a long errand--sneak upstairs to the one spot in the house with a good view of the whole pool area.

Watching could be fun--was fun--until they decided they wanted privacy. Was it too much to ask they have their forbidden liason in the sun by the pool? Now she was left staring at a small building and trying to interpret the smallest of signs. And watching the clock, waiting until enough time had passed for her cover story... Gabe even insisted there was a package, which sat on the floor beside her, in case they questioned. They might not, but the devil's in the details, as Gabe quoted at her before.

**Gabe:** What's your read?  
  


As much fun as it was to imagine the brother and sister giving in entirely to lust, Eden didn't think they'd jump right to that. "Prob making out," she decided. She might be able to make a better guess when they came out, but for now she started keying in that answer.

**Eden:** Prob making out  
  
**Eden:** I know they kissed tho  
  
**Eden:** kinda surprised actually  
  
**Eden:** with the images you planted in his head, T should have been the first to make a move  
  
**Eden:** but no, K did.  
  


She was skeptical of Gabe's theory at first... in all honesty, she always doubted Kinsey had any interest along those lines, that they'd have to rely on tricking Tyler--seeding his brain with sexual images of his sister's naked body, of them together entwined, not to mention getting him to remove his protective instinct--baiting him into making a move that would tear the two of them apart... but Gabe was right. Lack-of-Fear-Kinsey was a freak and totally into it... which might tear them apart in another way, of course.

**Gabe:** I'm not surprised  
  
**Gabe:** You forget I know her better than you.  
  
**Eden:** Well give me some credit  
  
**Eden:** I set the stage  
  
**Eden:** devils in the details and all  
  
**Eden:** if I hadn't gotten rid of Jackie before he arrived  
  
**Eden:** nothing would have happened  
  
**Eden:** speaking of... she might be a problem.  
  
**Gabe:** Oh?  
  
**Eden:** She saw us together once  
  
**Eden:** nothing vital  
  
**Eden:** just thinks you're a cheater  
  
**Eden:** I'll handle her if you want.  
  
**Gabe:** Permanently?  
  


Sometimes questions like this were a test. Gabe was at this a lot longer than she was, and still acted like he always he knew best, which was fine, for now... the problem was, Eden didn't know what might be being tested right now. It could be her commitment, or merely her ability to grasp the intricacies of the plans nested within other plans. Killing Jackie would risk exposing their hand, which they didn't want to do just yet with the Lockes convinced the threat Dodge posed was gone... unless they made it look like a plausible accident. But even then, it would provoke all these _feelings_ , for Tyler and Kinsey, and ones Eden herself would have to publicly show for the sudden tragic death of her lifelong best friend. There were good reasons to keep the girl alive. And it wasn't like Jackie saw them using the Identity Key to make the photos Gabe planted in Tyler's head or anything like that, she just saw two people hanging out. Plenty of ways to explain that. Or get her to shut up about it.

**Eden:** No  
  
**Eden:** I mean I can  
  
**Eden:** but I'll just seduce the girl  
  
**Eden:** probably be pretty easy  
  
**Eden:** sorta follow your lead.  
  


It was, after all, the strategy Gabe was using here... and good advice, that sometimes the best way to manipulate people is to tempt them what they always really wanted but they were too afraid to go for, didn't think they deserve or was right to desire. Especially in those cases, in fact... because then you fill them up with delicious guilt and a secret you could exploit. Seducing Jackie was right in line with that philosophy and, particularly with her parental issues, was sure to keep her silent... and hell, it'd be _fun_. The pleasures of the flesh were called that for a reason, and the thought of this particular one stirred something inside her... maybe an echo of the Eden that used to be, before the night in the sea caves.

Perhaps that same echo was the reason Gabe's lack of response worried her... a growing unease that she might be given other instructions that built in the minutes of silence. But finally, to her relief, a message appeared and then a series of others.

**Gabe:** Sounds good.  
  
**Gabe:** Sorry, Scot was hovering.  
  


Made sense... silly to worry over it, really, even if she was given the order to dispose of Jackie permanently. But it would be fun to toy with her a little longer.

**Gabe:** Going to have to make the call, don't think I can stall any longer.  
  
**Gabe:** Eyes open, their reactions should be... instructive.  
  


To the window, again. It was open, just a crack, and although it was hard to make out anything but the loudest conversations at that distance, the message alert notification from Kinsey's phone, left on the pool deck had a piercing quality that carried. It probably could be heard from inside the pool house, too... but Kinsey didn't seem inclined to come check it. _Guess she's otherwise occupied._

A couple minutes later, another faint musical sound, this one a phone actually ringing, a call rather than a text message, significantly more urgent and difficult to ignore. And, indeed, after a few cycles of the ringtone, Kinsey stepped out, tugging on the top of her swimsuit... as though it were recently out of place, perhaps? Hard to tell. Her hair was certainly a little messed, but then she had recently been in the pool. And it was too far to really be sure if there was a flush in her face or other parts of her body, other details she was supposed to be on the lookout for. 

What Eden _could_ be sure of is the way Kinsey furtively looked about, as though reassuring herself nobody was nearby, watching, her gaze even sweeping casually up the house that was supposed to be empty. Eden didn't duck back from the window... movement was more likely to be seen than anything a still figure. Kinsey didn't react as though she thought she got caught, though, just checking to be sure she wasn't, and only after satisfying herself of that did she go for her phone.

Tyler emerged after her, thirty seconds later. Some of his short hair was sticking up, as though maybe frantic hands pushed it out of place, but the best evidence was down below, below the shirtless body, to his shorts... still on, unfortunately, and aside from his own furtive glances around, he looked pretty innocent, but the devil was in the details... he walked with a certain stiffness, awkwardness, as though something was hard and uncomfortable there.

_Poor guy..._ she thought with no actual sympathy. _I don't think he got off._ Which was maybe not the ideal outcome, but still an impressive development. _Fuck, leaving him unsatisfied might even be better in the long run._

Kinsey seemed surprised by what she heard on the phone, and Eden had to guess exactly what was said, but assumed it was something along the lines of, "What? You captured it?" with a desperate, longing look to Tyler as she wasn't sure she wanted this reprieve from responsibility. But eventually Kinsey must have agreed to meet them at the designated place, disconnected the call, looked at each other. Tyler went for his shirt and shoes, outside, and Kinsey went back to the pool house where her own clothes were.

She could imagine the tension that would be between them on the way... and it might only be better if they didn't have a chance to _talk_ about it, come to some agreement, understanding. Like if somebody else were inconveniently there. 

Enough time had passed where she could plausibly be returning, meet them on the way. She started out of the room so she could be returning at the gate before they could be finished changing... only to come back, a moment later, to retrieve the package for Javi's dad she was supposed to be returning _with_. _Devil's in the details._

* * *

The first sign Tyler and Kinsey were coming was from Proto. His head jerked upward, like a dog hearing a whistle silent to human ears. So much so that, if he were still pretending to be Lucas, Gabe might have made a joke like "What is it, boy? Is Timmy lost in a well?" but that reference, dated even then, would probably be lost on Scot and definitely on Proto.

Instead, he pretended not to notice, until he heard the distance crunch of feet on twigs and a rough path. "Go see if that's them," he suggested to Scot, feigning concern he didn't feel that they might be caught instead by Nina Locke and have to explain the two creatures pulled from her children's minds. _Not that she'd remember anyway._

Scot moved to the front double doors of the maintenance shed, though Proto remained in position, more proof that he already knew who was coming and didn't feel the need to be on guard. "Yeah, it's them," Scot said, and opened one side of the doors more widely, putting on a smile that he must have hoped would protect him from Kinsey's inevitable wrath. "Took you long enough."

Gabe followed to the door, in time to see the three walking up together. Tyler looked the most normal, unperturbed by either what they were here to confront or whatever happened between him and his sister... but of course the boy was well-experienced at holding everything in, and Gabe took in the small detail of the way his eyes slid away whenever somebody tried to meet them. Kinsey, on the other hand, had a dark expression, practically a scowl... protective anger covering her real feelings just... and maybe some real feeling behind it. "Shut up," she grumbled to Scot. "I'm still pissed at you." Behind them, Eden, lurking behind, a smug expression on her face that might have been suspicious if Eden didn't often look that way. Still, he might have to warn her to tone it down. 

But he needed to stop worrying about her acting and focus on his own. When she spotted Gabe, Kinsey glared at him. "And especially you. How could you even think about doing something like this without me?"

A guilty look was sometimes more effective than an innocent face, so he put his best one on, even while trying to justify it. "Well, actually, Scot and I had this theory that your Fear might be, like, psychically linked to you, that this would all be easier if you didn't know what was going on."

Scot responded, once Gabe looked to him for backup. "Uh, yeah, right. But we couldn't really test the theory without telling you. So... catch-22 there."

"Bullshit," she said. "You were trying to protect me."

"Is that so wrong?" he asked, feigning a hurt look. "We all care about you. _I_ care about you, Kinsey."

Excellent... just for a moment, she couldn't meet his eye. "I don't need your macho protec..." and then she stopped, her mouth hanging open. Without turning back, Gabe knew that Proto had come into view. "Holy shit..." she breathed, looked back to Tyler, then back to Proto, who had by this point brushed past Gabe and Scot. "So this is _him_? _This_ is your protectiveness?"

"We call him Proto, for short." Scot volunteered.

"He doesn't look very short," she observed as he got within arm's length of her and she had to look up at him with what might have been fear, if he couldn't hear her Fear in the back, tied up, struggling against her restraints as though sensing her freedom might be coming to an end. Apprehension, at least. Maybe awe.

She stayed that way, unsure how to react, while Proto lowered, sank down on one knee, hands on the other, and bowed his head like a knight before his leige. Or someone proposing. "I will always protect you, Kinsey. It's who I am. The alternative is unthinkable."

"Wow," she said, looking down at Proto, than back at her brother. "He really _does_ talk. This is the first we've seen that you can have a conversation with."

Eden interrupted the moment. "Bit of a waste to use him for conversation, though. Man, I thought Tyler had a nice body..." she said. "But look at this guy. Mmmh. Think Jackie would let me borrow him for a while? I mean it's not _really_ her boyfriend." Gabe shot her a warning look, although he wasn't yet certain if her intervention was unwelcome or not. It certainly would remind the two of them of who they'd hurt. Working with a partner was a mixed bag, sometimes Eden's instincts were dead on, and other times it felt like he needed to rein her in. 

Kinsey outwardly ignored her, but her face did seem to redden slightly. She folded her arms over her midsection, looked back down at the thing pulled from her bother's head. "I suppose there's no point in asking for an apology from you, though."

Proto's head tilted as though considering the question. "Your feelings are important to me, just as your body is... I want both to be safe and healthy. What's done is done, but know that whatever distress it caused you causes me more... if they would help, there is much I should apologize for."

Nervously stepping forward, Scot clapped the hand not bound in a cast on Proto's shoulder. It earned him a sour glance from Proto, but nothing more. "Look, we can worry about who deserves what apology later," he said, clearly with a specific possible apology of Proto's foremost in his mind, one that he didn't Kinsey to have to hear. "Let's just agree that we could have handled things better... the important thing, right now, is what we're going to do next. We've caught your Fear, Kinsey. It... she's right in there. You brought the Head Key, right?" Tyler nodded.

"Fine," Kinsey said. "I still haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but I guess it's time to face my Fear." 

Proto rose to his feet, and then lead the way, as though worried about the mere possibility that Fear might have escaped and be ready to pounce at the first thing it saw. The rest of them followed, although Gabe did notice Kinsey take a long look at the woodchipper on their way in, as though considering it as a handy way to dispose of her Fear. Wouldn't work, not with Kinsey alive, but it would potentially put it out of play for a while, so he put his hand on her shoulder in a boyfriendly way to divert her attention. "It'll be okay," he promised her, even though she flinched a bit at his touch. 

Kinsey's Fear wasn't kept just inside the wooden groundskeeper's shed but rather inside a separate room attached to it, tied to a chair. Proto stood at the edge of the door but allowed Kinsey to look inside. The fragment of her own mind hissed at her, and there was more struggling against the ropes than there had been since they'd all arrived, but the ropes were secure. 

Kinsey herself stepped out of sight of the door, bumping into Gabe in the process, turning away and looking to Tyler's eyes for support, comfort... although he hung back at the door to the outside, like he wanted to live up to his promise to leave the decision up to her... or was just awkward and uncertain of how to act around her. She looked to Proto, then Gabe, and gave a shrug. "I don't know what looking at it's going to do."

It was almost as though, this close, her Fear was already back with her, but Gabe suspected it wasn't true fear she was feeling, just apprehension and indecision. Although there was the old saying about the only thing to fear being Fear itself, and maybe that had a kind of truth to it as well, with every other part of her Fear expelled from her head, the prospect of having it back was the last thing that could get that reaction. 

"Facing your Fear's _usually_ a metaphor," Scot volunteered, "But it's a useful one. Fear's not a bad thing, Kinsey." 

"Taking it inside of you isn't going to fundamentally change you," Gabe promised.

"So, then leaving it out won't either." She shook her head. "I mean... I know, all of you want me to... undo what's happened to me."

"I kind of have a vested interested here," Eden pointed out. "Considering I've seen what happens when your emotions get loose.... but yeah, I think you should take it back. Just suck it up, girl. It might be hard sometimes, but you're not the only one it gets hard for. You either handle it, or... I don't know, just ride it out."

Kinsey looked to her brother, as though she wanted him to tip the scales. "It's your decision," he said again, unhelpfully, passively. Without his Protectiveness he seemed a little lost... as though he knew he'd already screwed up a decision that was in his hands. "I'll support you, either way."

"You belong together," Proto said, and waited until Kinsey met his eye. "You know in your heart this is true. You will always feel incomplete unless you are together."

She held his gaze for a few seconds, a face that looked so much like Tyler, though without awkwardness, for Protectiveness was not afraid of looking her in the eye, and indeed, she broke first, looked around the assembled group. "You know, a _lot_ has happened today, without any warning. But I remember the way things were before, and I'm not sure I want to go back to that. I need some time to process how this is going to affect me. It's not like I can sit down and have a conversation with it like you can with yours."

"I mean... have you tried?" Scot asked. She stared at him. "I mean, again, this is Fear we're talking about, so of course it's going to go all non-verbal when you're scared. But I bet Proto here would seem like a silent monster if it thought you were in danger. Maybe now that it's here, not able to run, you can discuss your relationship going forward."

She looked back to her brother, who said, "I mean, it's worth a try." 

"Okay," she agreed. "But not with all of you here. I don't know what it's going to say and... well, there are some things in my head I don't want to be public knowledge."

"I should stay," Proto insisted. "Just in case."

"Fine. Tyler too." He seemed surprised at that, but didn't comment.

Scot on the other hand, was having sudden second thoughts. "You know maybe talking to it was a dumb idea..."

But it was too late, Kinsey, now set on this idea, ignored him. "The rest of you... just give us some privacy, while I try and sort this out."

Eden shrugged as though the decision didn't really matter to her either way, and Gabe put on his supportive boyfriend face. Scot looked particularly unsure of himself, but followed along as they left the groundskeeper's shed and walked around the side and a bit towards the treeline. "I just hope letting them talk wasn't a mistake," Scot said. "I hope Proto doesn't bring up..." his eyes slid to Eden. "Some of the stuff we talked about on the route."

She perked up with interest. "Oh really? Like what?"

He shook his head, turned his gaze back to the building. "Nothing. You know, I've had to go to the bathroom the longest time. I think I'm going to go find a convenient tree."

Eden smirked at him, tilted her head. "You going to be okay doing that with just one hand?" she asked. "Or you need a little help holding it?"

A little uncertain half-chuckle escaped Scot's lips, his usual reaction when Eden said something outrageous and he wasn't entirely sure how seriously she meant it, or even if he wanted it to be meant seriously. "I'll be fine," he said, and started to sidle off. 

"So do you think she'll take it back?" Eden asked Gabe, soft-voiced, once it was just the two of them. 

Or seemed to be. Gabe gave a furtive look around, checking every direction, just in case. Devil's in the details. "Honestly? It doesn't matter." And he didn't want to make a prediction and wind up wrong. "Either way we've succeeded today. They've crossed a line between themselves. Scot has suspicions we can exploit if we need to blow everything up." He shrugged, let slip a little smile. "No matter what Kinsey chooses, we've got leverage we can use when the time is right."

"So, I was thinking later, maybe we could make a few more videos using the Identity Key... could be useful down the line."

"You want to celebrate," he interpreted.

She shrugged. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, just might as well be open about it." As long as nobody's listening. "We so rarely get to be up front."

"True. Well, as long as we're being up front... this time, for a change, _I_ want to try being Kinsey."

Not the way he preferred it, but he could give Eden her way in this one. Finding ways to entertain himself in this realm was an ongoing struggle... and a little variety never hurt.


End file.
